


what could be as lonely as love?

by mischiefmismanaged



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Young Severus Snape
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:02:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28752603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischiefmismanaged/pseuds/mischiefmismanaged
Summary: After being rejected by his best friend Lily, Severus Snape is more than eager to just isolate himself even further and do whatever it takes to finish his last year at Hogwarts. Magdalena, his new Divination partner, has other plans, however. She offers to use her intuition and social connections to help him win over Lily in exchange from some potions tutoring. Severus begrudgingly accepts her "ridiculous" plan. Throughout their time together, he is able to gain a new friend and maybe even something more.
Relationships: Severus Snape/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 29
Kudos: 68





	1. magical sea creatures and astrology

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is my first snape fic, so please be gentle with me! I wanted to do something light, (hopefully funny), and full of cute little cliches. there will be some angst, of course! :) let me know what you think! I haven't done a lot of creative writing in a while (just writing university papers nonstop), so I'm totally open to constructive criticism! also, I'm sorry if things aren't totally canon or accurate. I, admittedly, have not read the books since I was young, and I'm not from the UK. regardless, I hope we can have fun with this!

“What the hell is a _Snivellus_?”

It was an honest question, but Magdalena’s friends burst out in laughter when she asked it.

“No, seriously, guys. Is it, like, a magical beast or something that I don’t know about yet?”

Allegra Saunders, Magdalena’s closest friend since their first year at Hogwarts, finally stopped her snorting. “It’s not a _what_ , it’s a _who_. A seventh year Slytherin. How’ve you not heard of Snivellus?”

Magdalena stares back at her friend, still confused.

“You may otherwise know him by his real name, Severus Snape,” Clementine Kent offered, giving Allegra a stern look. “It’s a crude nickname.”

She looks around the Great Hall, which had finally quieted down after the ruckus of sorting out all the new first years. The Slytherin table had already thinned out quite a bit, allowing Clementine to spot the dark-haired boy and point him out to Magdalena. He was sitting surrounded by some of his housemates, reading while the others spoke animatedly.

“Ah, yes. That does ring a bell.”

“Maybe if you weren’t always held up in the Hufflepuff common room with your head in a book you’d actually know the people who go to this school by now,” Clementine remarked in her signature judgmental-but-caring tone.

Magdalena considered fighting her on that one, but she didn’t have much a leg to stand on. She had a hard time keeping up with all of the students in her own class, let alone those in the years above or below her. She had way too much academic pressure since she decided that she wanted to become an auror after school. She was still intrigued by what they were talking about, though.

“So, wait, what were you saying about this Snivellus, then?”

“Severus,” Clementine interjected.

Allegra rolled her eyes. “As I was saying… I heard a rumor that those Gryffindor boys are gonna pull a huge prank on him the first day of term.”

Magdalena at least knew who “those Gryffindor boys” were. Everyone did. James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black. Oh, and Peter Pettigrew. They were confident, popular, and absolutely adored by Dumbledore, along with the rest of the Hogwarts staff. While they were mostly nice to everyone who wasn’t a Slytherin, Magdalena still never really liked them. She had a weird disdain for the way that they strutted about the castle.

“I’m guessing that they’re the ones who coined the term Snivellus?”

“What do you think, Magdalena? They’ve had it out for him since their first year.”

Clementine scoffed. “That’s an understatement. Do you think it’s about Lily?”

“Lily Evans?” Magdalena asked.

“Yeah, he’s apparently been, like, in love with her since they were little kids. They were best friends.”

“I heard she was into James, though?”

Clementine shrugged. “I’ve heard that James is into Lily.”

Their conversation was quickly interrupted by Wren, a long-term friend of theirs, who was eager to tell the group all about his summer abroad in France. Magdalena half-heartedly listened while she considered what she’d just heard. She found herself gazing back at that Slytherin, who was now in conversation with his friends.

She felt a weird urge to keep staring at him, observing his cold and somewhat unapproachable demeanor. This went on for some time until Severus looked across the room directly at her. As their eyes met, she looked down in embarrassed fear. Then, she realized that the Gryffindor table was directly behind them, and she confirmed her theory when she turned around to find that Lily Evans was sitting right behind her, still excitedly chatting up her seemingly never-ending list of friends. She looked back to Severus who was now staring back down at his book, quickly shaking his head in response to whatever his friends were laughing about.

His best friend? Interested in the guy who’s been bullying him for years? She couldn’t help but feel incredibly sorry for him. Though, she was a little relieved, hoping that Severus hadn’t even noticed her creepily watching him; he was simply too busy creepily watching someone else.

“Hey, Snivell-oh shit, wait. Severus. Hey.”

Severus looked up from his potions textbook to find Magdalena Marrow standing over him, a look of awkward panic on her face. She was trying to smile in a way that looked natural, but it was clear that she was embarrassed by the slip-up.

“Don’t worry,” Severus muttered, looking back down to his reading. “Lots of people call me Snivellus to my face. Makes no difference to me.”  
He was still surprised, though; it wasn’t usually Hufflepuffs who stooped that low.

“I’m sorry, I totally did not mean that. I mean, I didn’t even know that that nickname was a thing until yesterday. I thought it was the name of a magical root or something.”  
She chose to end her brutally awkward sentence with an unnatural little laugh and a wide smile, exposing her gapped teeth.

Severus stared back at her in equal discomfort. It wasn’t how people typically introduced themselves. How did she not know about the Snivellus thing? He thought everyone in the castle, even the ghosts, got a chuckle every now and then out of that juvenile nickname.

She was clearly waiting for a response, but Severus just shrugged her off. He tried to make it look like a product of his signature nonchalant attitude, but really he just had no idea how to handle the situation.

“I-Is that a potions textbook?”

Once more, he looked up to find Magdalena still standing over him. He looked past her at the Divination classroom, now nearly filled.

He forced himself to avoid her expectant eye contact as he turned his gaze back to his book. “You should hurry and find a seat before they’re all taken.”

His heartrate sped up as, in his periphery, he watched her sit in the little chair across from him. Did she actually want to be his partner? He knew that someone was going to get stuck with him, considering no one from his small circle of Slytherin friends would be seen dead in Divination. That, of course, was exactly why he was taking it.

“Is that okay?”

It was nearly a whisper from her mouth, with her eyes wide like those of a deer caught in the headlights. He furrowed his eyebrows and gave her a gruff shrug. To Severus’s surprise, this elicited a small smile from his new Divination partner.

Whatever was going on here, he decided, it must be related to the incident in the Great Hall last night. One of his friends had caught her staring at him for some time and let him know with some joke about how he had a secret admirer. He immediately looked over in the direction of the Hufflepuff table, making eye contact with the sixth year whom he’d barely knew. Admittedly, he was embarrassed by the whole thing, which only caused his friends to dog on him more about it.

“You probably don’t know me, but my name’s Magdalena. I’m a sixth year.”

Without adverting his gaze, he casually raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I was already aware of that.”

Before she could come up with a response, Professor Trelawney stumbled into the room, muttering some nonsense about the overwhelming dreams she’s been having about thestrals in the Thames. Severus wasn’t exactly excited about the Divination course, but there was something he found charming about it. If only he didn’t have this… distraction sitting next to him, making his palms sweat.

Trelawney began a short spiel about her expectations for the course, before interrupting herself with a very sudden rant on the nature of the introspection into “The Beyond.” Finally, she decided that going over a bit of astrology would be a good way for partners to break the ice with one another.

Severus peaked over at his partner who was staring back at him expectantly. She gave a small smile and mumbled, “I’m a libra.”

He couldn’t hold back a scoff. He immediately regretted it, though, as he watched the smile slowly fall from her face. It looked like he hurt her feelings, and he wasn’t used to that response. Usually, he was just met with the same coldness and hostility thrown right back at him. He really didn’t like it, and he found himself quite surprised by how much he didn’t like it. He was feeling quite guilty, actually.

“I’m a Capricorn, I suppose,” he muttered quietly, refusing to make eye contact as he stared at the charts in their divination textbook.

“Oh, I totally see that.”

Severus realized that she was putting on a sarcastic little lilt in her voice, accompanied by an insufferable grin. He held back the beginnings of a smile of his own.

By the time he looked back up, she was already deep in thought while reading the textbook. “Ambitious, disciplined, persistent. That does seem fitting.”

“You hardly know me.”

Magdalena shrugged. “Well, the stars told me.”

Desperate to get the attention off from himself, but also somewhat interested in playing his partner’s little game, he flipped to the libra section.

“Idealist, indecisive, shallow.”

“Hey! At least I read off all the positive ones for yours!”

He suppresses another smile. For a moment, he wonders if he should continue the awkward playful banter. He was used to keeping sturdy walls up around him, protecting himself from the cruelty of his schoolmates and, when he’s not at Hogwarts, that of his parents. Magdalena didn’t seem dangerous, though. Just intimidatingly pretty, especially with her bashful smiles and unrestrained giggles.

Severus was well aware, however, that pretty people could be cruel, too. Not to mention, he had no idea what she wanted from him. Maybe it was all just a joke for her, and tonight, when she’s sitting with her friends again in the Great Hall, she’ll tell them all about her great laugh as Snivellus’s Divination partner.

  
He decided to keep his signature frown and low, disinterested voice for the time being.

  
“Is it accurate, though?”

She stared down at the circle chart of various signs. Her smirk was gone, and she seemed a little disappointed. “Oh, I forgot, I was going to tell you… I heard that someone’s planning to pull a nasty prank on you today.”


	2. meddling friends

The first few days of term were excruciatingly long for Magdalena, as usual. Her schedule was at least less packed than it was last year while she was preparing for her OWLs. She wanted to use the new term to slow things down for a second and relax. But her potions class was not fitting into her plan well at all.

She had been miserable at it since her first year at Hogwarts. Always too impatient to carefully read the instructions, always too impulsive to prepare her ingredients before starting. It was all a big headache for her, though she always wanted to get better at it. Though she much preferred astronomy and divination and, though she didn’t like to admit it to just anyone, defense against the dark arts. 

It was Thursday morning now, and Magdalena nervously picked at her breakfast. Why was she anxious today? She figured it had something to do with her lengthy potions class later that night, but she knew deep down that Divination was stressing her out, too. 

She was really beginning to regret sitting by Severus that first day; it was such an impulsive decision. When she had arrived in the classroom and saw him sitting up in the back all alone, she just felt so captivated by him despite not knowing why. Not to mention, she had wanted to let him know about the rumor her friends had told her the night before.

He seemed surprised when she told him, not at the news of the foreboding prank but rather that she went out of her way to tell him. He just shrugged and mumbled something about already hearing the rumor. 

“I’m not afraid of their insolent and juvenile pranks.”

As she reminisced on their time together in Divination, her gaze shifted to where she had seen him sitting at the Slytherin table the other night. The spot was empty now, though. It seemed that he and his friends were sleeping in, along with her friends and dormmates, Allegra and Clementine.

Wren, however, was up bright and early as usual. He sat down beside Magdalena, running his fingers through his blonde curls and making some comment on how Hogwarts’ breakfasts should include more pastries. 

“How’ve your classes been going?” 

Magdalena shrugged. “Fine, I think. You?”

“Well, you know me; I’ve got this term locked down.”

“Oh, right, of course,” Magdalena responded with a chuckle. “What did you say the other day? That you could ace this term even if you had hand tied behind your back.”

“I think I also said if I was asleep with my hand tied behind my back.”

She just shook her head in mock disapproval. “Well, at least someone is confident in themselves. I’m already so worried about advanced potions this year.”

“How did you get into advanced potions?”

“I have no idea! It must’ve been some crazy fluke on the day of the OWLs. Or because I had been busting my ass all year to catch up. Well, it probably had something to do with my partner. Either way, I’m screwed now.”

It seemed like maybe Wren was half-listening, already shoving a piece of toast in his mouth, thickly coated in a layer of strawberry jelly. “Just get someone to tutor you,” he offered dismissively.

“Who would even be willing to do that? It’s not like I’m especially good enough in any topic to return the favor.”

Wren laughed a bit to himself at that. “You could always help someone with their muggle studies work.”

Magdalena knew that it was just a little reference to her status as muggle-born, but it was one of many from Wren that made her question if it was all innocent joking or if he had some buried prejudice against her. It was something she knew she couldn’t bring up with her friends, who would undoubtedly dismiss her concerns. They adored Wren; he was one of the most popular boys in their year and he chose them to hang out with the most. Magdalena and her friends were, admittedly, not the coolest friend group.

She ignored the comment and, absentmindedly, realized that her eyes had wandered back to the Slytherin house table. 

“What do you know about Severus Snape?”

Yet another impulsive action.

Wren let out a chuckle. “What do you wanna know about Snivvy?” He said the nickname (which was actually a nickname of a nickname, technically) with disgust in his voice.

She narrowed her eyes at him, but once again let his comment slide. “I don’t know. Just… whatever you know about him.”

“Let’s just say, there’s a reason Potter and his friends have it out for him. He’s a freak.”

Noticing her discomfort, Wren spoke again. “Wait, why do you care anyways? He didn’t say anything to you, right? If he did something to upset you just let me know. I’ll take care of him.”

“No, no. Not at all. We’re just partners in Divination. I don’t really know much about him.”

This made Wren laugh once again, the previous tension leaving his face. “Shit, I’m sorry. What formation do tea leaves make when someone’s future is dying alone after a life of creepy mediocrity.”

“Jesus,” Magdalena interjected. “What did he ever do to you?”

He shrugged. “I’d just be careful if I were you. You know what they say about him and his friends…” He moved in closer, placing his face inches from hers and looking into her eyes. “They don’t like your kind.” 

A horrible feeling continued to grow inside her, and she knew that it was time to remove herself from the situation, before she snapped at him. Wren was okay most of the time, but he was clearly dedicated to being absolutely insufferable this morning. It was just like him to mention the status of her blood once again. 

He watched her leave and muttered, “He’s good with potions, though. Maybe you should ask him to tutor you.”

Severus figured he ought to eat something now so he could spend lunch in the dungeons alone. None of his friends were usually up this early if they could help it. Mealtimes with them were exhausting. 

He wasn’t expecting to run into Magdalena, however.

She really did run into him. She was exiting the Great Hall just as he was entering, and her body slammed into his shoulder as they collided. It was actually quite painful; he was about to snap at whoever it was but suppressed an annoyed groan when he saw her face.

“Are you okay?” 

“I should be asking you that,” Severus snapped back. It came out harsher than he really ought to have been. She was clearly already upset.

She stuttered an incomprehensible response before giving up and continuing on her previous path with an indignant huff. He stood there, watching her stomp away, likely headed towards the Hufflepuff common room.

What’s her problem? 

Severus didn’t have long to ruminate on this, however, as his friend Regulus, who had been sitting on a windowsill just outside the entrance to the Great Hall, enjoying an apple for breakfast, approached him. Severus hadn’t even noticed him when he was first walking in, distracted by the book in his hands and then the girl body-slamming him. 

“What was that all about?”

He was startled by his sudden presence. He’d forgotten that Regulus had an early herbology class this term. That’s probably why he was up early enough for breakfast.

He did his best to collect himself. “I have no idea.”

“Do you know her? Magdalena?”

“Sort of.”

A devious smirk grew on his face. “Wait, is she that Hufflepuff who was eyeing you the other day? She did seem quite flustered by you. Maybe Lucius and Mulciber were right about her having a thing for you.”

Severus sighed, annoyed once more. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

He was well aware that he didn’t have a great track record with girls, along with the rest of the school. The only one who he’d ever had a crush on was likely going to end up dating his biggest enemy. It was pathetic, really. He couldn’t even convince her to care enough for him to not get together with the boy who has bullied him since they were eleven. 

Regulus shrugged, taking another bite from his apple. “Some girls like the dark and brooding type.”

He had to admit, Severus found it quite sweet the way that Regulus always tried to make him feel better. He was probably the closest friend he had, after Lily drifted away from him. They joked together all the time, but they were able to let their guard down a bit when it was just the two of them

“Yes, that’s exactly how girls describe me. Dark and brooding, not creepy and hideous.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. It’s mostly guys who have a problem with you, really.” Before Severus could respond, he added. “Magdalena’s cute. I’ve always thought that. We had potions together last year. She was awful at it, but very persistent, nevertheless. Oh, and we’ve got ancient runes together this term.”

This caused Severus to raise his eyebrows in genuine surprise. She must’ve been a busy student.

“I don’t care if she’s cute.”

Regulus scoffed. “Yeah, I’m sure. Teenage boys don’t usually notice that sort of thing. She’s really cool, too, you know. One time she totally got at Sirius when he was being a huge dick. You woulda appreciated that.”

This did capture his attention. “What do you mean?”

“He was going on some rant about Slytherins and she had a nice witty retort for him. I wish I could remember it now. It pissed him off quite a bit, though.”

“Hmm.”

There was a moment of silence between the two, and Severus knew that Regulus was holding back, waiting for him to say something more about the mystery girl. He figured he’d give in to satisfy him and make the conversation end faster.

“You know, she tried to warn me the other day, about the prank that Potter was gonna pull on me.”

Regulus smiled a little at that, letting out a small sigh. “It might be nice to make some new friends, you know…”

“Stop.”

“C’mon, man, we both know what’s gonna happen soon. You can’t keep hoping she’ll suddenly change her mind and fall in love with you.”

Severus scoffed. “I’m already done with this conversation.”

He sulked off, changing his mind about breakfast and heading back towards the dungeons.  
“Think about it! She’s cute!” Regulus yelled at his friend as he walked away. 

Severus did not appreciate his meddling friend. Even if he was just trying to do what was best for him.


	3. everything quill be okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! :)  
> thanks for reading! I wanted to share my tumblr with you guys, it's foolishwandwaving. I want to start posting more around hp (specifically snape). I would loveee to do some little writing requests for him, if anyone would be interested in that... Just send me one!! I'll do the best I can, whether it's fluff or smut or angst or all three.

“ _Oh_ ,” Severus involuntarily muttered, unable to hide his disappointment. _So that’s what this has all been about, then_.

  
The two of them were sitting at their little table in the back of the Divination classroom as the other students collected their things and left for the day. Usually, Magdalena is quick to suggest that they walk together to the Great Hall for lunch (which Severus has found himself now taking more often as a result). They never sat together, of course, still separated by their differing house distinctions. Today, however, she had an important question for him. 

  
Magdalena stuttered for a second. “I mean, only if you want to, of course. I understand if you’re too busy, or if I just annoy you too much.”

  
“I hardly think I’d be a good tutor.”

  
“I’ve heard you’re the best at potions. I’m sure teaching it would be even easier for you. You’d be great!”

  
Severus rolled his eyes. “I’d never want to be a teacher. That sounds absolutely dreadful.”

  
She just nodded, looking a little disappointed herself. “Okay. Right. I’m sorry. It was just an idea I had. I’m sure you’re way too busy with your last year.”

  
“Is that why you chose me as your partner? You’ve just been trying to get my help with potions?”

  
“Oh, no,” she said with a little laugh. “I don’t have enough foresight and planning for that. Which is coincidentally part of why I’m so bad with potions.”

  
He moved his focus back to his textbook and asked, “Then why did you?” He tried to make his voice sound as disinterested as possible, as though he couldn’t care less about the answer. Only a small part of him really couldn’t care less.

  
In his periphery he watched her gaze at him, as though she were analyzing him, looking right through him. Severus found it be unnerving. She had a habit of mindlessly staring at people or things, then getting embarrassed if it’s pointed out to her. 

  
She also had a habit of giggling whenever she even sort of felt like it. At first, Severus found it to be quite annoying. She didn’t try to guard her emotions, and she didn’t try to act cold and disinterested all the time, either. It was just so opposite to how he’d been socialized, how he’d spent the last seventeen years of his life behaving. And usually, people who acted the way she acted had no patience for people like him. She did, though.

  
It was their third week of Divination together, and he was actually beginning to enjoy her goofy demeanor. Though, he couldn’t use the word “goofy” to describe her anymore; he had tried it as an insult the second week of class, and she teased him mercilessly for it. Well, not the way that others in the school teased him. It was more akin to the way Regulus or Lucius teased him. The way his _friends_ teased him. 

  
Truthfully, he found the class to be a time of relief from everything going on in the other areas of his life. He told himself that it was because of the charming atmosphere of the coursework, but deep down he wondered if he was starting to value his time with Magdalena. 

  
He still found her insufferable sometimes. She had a habit of rambling on and on about things that he didn’t really care about. At first, he tuned her out completely, just focusing on whatever assignment they had that day. This proved to be a difficult task, however, as she often times wanted a response from him. 

  
_Well, what do you think, Severus? Does the orange juice in the Great Hall taste like it’s being watered down these days?_

  
Eventually, he started to find some comfort in her ruminations. They weren’t always that inane, and it was interesting to hear her talk about muggle things. She had a special liking for their literature and would talk about whatever book she’d been reading in her spare time.

  
To make matters worse, Regulus and Magdalena had ancient runes together, and it seemed that he was keeping a watchful eye on the two of them. Severus had no doubt that his friend was prying information out of the dangerously unguarded and gullible girl. He would make reference to them every now and then, calling her his new “friend” and telling him about how good she was in the class. 

  
Severus wondered, every now and then, if Magdalena considered him a friend. She never said so outright, but she was unbelievably kind to him and seemed to always forgive him when he was grumpy or snapped at her. Of course, they’d never really interacted outside of their time in Divination. 

  
“What would you even do for me if I helped you?”

  
Finally, a moment where Magdalena had nothing to say. He had already told her that he didn’t need help in any topics, and he didn’t care for money, meaning that whatever she offered would have to be non-academic. Though, he had no idea what they could be.

  
“I could do your laundry for the rest of the term?” She finally offered with a sincere smile.

  
He shook his head. “Please do not touch my clothing.”

  
“Fine, fine,” Magdalena giggled. She looked conflicted as she continued to think, however. Slowly she looked back to Severus. “You know, I’m a girl.”

  
“What are you implying?” Severus interjected, face beginning to turn red. 

  
She let out a bellowing laugh. “Jesus, let me finish! I meant that… well, listen, this might be a sensitive topic, and you can tell me if I’m overstepping any boundaries here, but… I know you’re into Lily Evans, and well, I could, like, try and coach you on winning her over.”

  
Severus stared back at her in shock. How the hell did she know about Lily? It seemed as though a lot of people did these days. Potter loved to tell people about it, how she had rejected him immediately. Her snotty little friends probably told her all about, he figured. This was probably just some joke for them. Magdalena didn’t care about being his friend, she just wanted to get potions tutoring from him, and when she had nothing to offer in return, she decided to bring up Lily (and his inability to win her over) just to hurt him. 

  
She was mocking him.

  
“You’ve overstepped a boundary. By a lot,” he sneered at her, watching her face contort in defense.

  
“No, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to! I just… I used to be friends with Lily, and, like, I know how girls think and stuff.”

  
His body was tense, face stern. “I don’t want to talk about this. Find yourself another tutor.” He grabbed his stack of books and angrily pushed himself out of small seat, nearly knocking over their table in the process. 

  
“Wait!” Magdalena sputtered after him as he began to exit the now empty classroom. “There must be something else I can do for you in return?” 

  
He looked back at her for a moment, giving her a deadly glare. “I can assure you, there is _nothing_ I want from you.”

_Fuck_. 

  
Magdalena slammed her door as she entered her little shared room, tossing her books onto her bed with anger. Well, she had enough anger to throw the books, but not enough to actually hurt them. _Books_ never snapped at her for offering a little help in exchange for potions lessons.

  
Pacing around the little room back and forth, she was so angry that she didn’t even realize that Clementine and Allegra were sitting on the ground in between their beds, homework spread around them. At this point, they were peering up at her with wide eyes, unsure how to ask her if she was okay. Neither of them was used to seeing her so upset like that.

  
“Heyyy…” Clementine awkwardly drawled, looking up at her, partly in concern and partly in fear.

  
“What happened to you?” Allegra scoffed with much less sensitivity and tact.

  
Magdalena groaned, flopping down on her bed in exasperation. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

  
“Fine by me,” Allegra mumbled, looking back to her transfiguration essay.

  
Clementine smacked her arm with a nearby textbook, giving her one of her signature stern looks. “Dude!”

  
She pushed herself off the ground and moved over to Magdalena’s bed, sat down beside her gently. “Are you sure?”

  
“It’s stupid. You wouldn’t get it.”

  
“Hmm,” she murmured, holding back an annoyed scoff. “Was it something Wren said?”

  
“Nope.”

  
“Did Filch yell at you for spilling tea in the hallway again?”

  
“Nope.”

  
“Did you get a bad mark on a potions assignment.”

  
“Nope—well, _yes_ , actually, but that’s not what’s upsetting me.”

  
Clementine decided to stop guessing and instead just stare at her friend until she finally revealed what was wrong with her. It always worked, she just had to ask one more time.   
“What’s wrong?” 

  
“Severus Snape.”

  
Allegra finally decided to listen. She gasped, sitting up from the floor. “What did he do to you? Did he use dark magic against you? Did he say something awful about you being muggle-born?”

  
“ _No_!”

  
“Then what was it?” Clementine asked with wide eyes.

  
They waited in anticipation. Finally, she spoke.

  
“He was mean to me.”

  
Allegra groaned. “What? That’s not juicy gossip at all. He’s mean to everyone.”

  
While Clementine knew that that was the wrong thing to say to an upset friend, she couldn’t help but nod in agreement. 

  
“Wow, thanks for the support, guys,” Magdalena muttered.

  
“Fine, fine, fine,” Allegra groans, begrudgingly choosing to play the role of a kind friend. “Did he say something during your Divination class?”

  
She shrugs. “He said I crossed a boundary. I don’t know, I probably did. I shouldn’t have brought up Lily.”

  
“Ouch,” Clementine winced. “Yeah, why would you bring her up? Didn’t we tell you that they had a falling out?”

  
“I still can’t believe you guys are partners,” Allegra giggled.

  
Magdalena, despite being talkative and rather open, had not told her friends much about her time with Severus. Not that there was anything necessarily to hide; she just liked the idea of their friendship to be between them. Well, she didn’t call it a friendship out loud, as she figured he would just have some snarky response about the banality of her company. She was sure he didn’t see it as a friendship.

  
“I asked him if he could help me with potions, ‘cause I’ve heard he’s amazing at it. I couldn’t think of anything to offer in return, but I remembered what you’d guys told me about Lily. I thought I could offer to help him get her to like him, and I totally see now why that was inappropriate to say, but he didn’t have to totally snap at me about it, right?”

  
Clementine suppressed a laugh. “It’s crazy, but I actually could see you as being good at that. You’re good with people, you know.”

  
“Well, clearly not with Severus,” Magdalena scoffed.

  
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” Allegra interjected. “You’ve just got to get through the rest of term and hope it isn’t too awkward. Or hope that he doesn’t hex you.”

  
She rolled her eyes, choosing not to respond. She didn’t really know how to convey to them that that was exactly what she was worried about, that she wasn’t going to be able to talk to Severus anymore. She really enjoyed her time with him. At first, he was standoffish and taciturn, but over time he seemed to be opening up more and more. It was clearly a slow process, however, and some days he’d seem to have regressed back to the brooding Severus she had met on the first day of class. 

  
Magdalena figured he’d at least had an ambivalent attitude towards her, but now he probably hated her. That made her more upset than she thought it would.

  
_Fuck_. 

  
Severus wondered to himself what the hell he was doing there, standing in front of the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room, pacing back and forth. This was the first time he had ever ventured to his part of the castle, and he didn’t altogether know how he got there.

  
After storming off from the Divination classroom, Severus just tried to walk off his anger. Once he got exhausted from stomping up and down various stairwells and corridors, he chose to venture outdoors and find a place to sit by the Black Lake. He just needed to be alone, and usually people didn’t hang out down there. 

  
He hated the way that such a small thing could set him off like that. Everything just seemed to compound, and it was all too overwhelming to him. He was still trying to make sense of what had happened. 

  
How did Magdalena know about Lily? Was she making a genuine offer? Or, was she just trying to mock him like the rest of the school? Did she know what she was talking about? Was there a chance she could help him?

  
The question that weighed heaviest on him was if she was going to be able to forgive him for lashing out at her. All she had to do was mention Lily and he got upset with her. Well, it didn’t help that he ran into Lily only an hour before Divination that day and she didn’t even stop to say hello to him. She just looked right through him as though he were the goddamned Bloody Baron.

  
Severus sat by the lake, trying to sort out of those thoughts for a few hours. By the time he had made his way back into the castle, his legs just knew where he needed to go. The Hufflepuff common room was located just below ground level, which he appreciated after a long day of stomping around. 

  
It didn’t exactly make much sense for him to go there, though. After six years at Hogwarts, he had no idea how he could even get inside. He didn’t exactly hang out with Hufflepuffs that often. Unfortunately, dinner had already ended, so he assumed she would be in her room by now. 

  
He wondered if she was pissed at him. Then, he wondered why he even cared so much what she thought.

  
Just as he was beginning to accept defeat, a familiar face approached the entrance to the common room. He didn’t know her name, but he knew that she was a close friend of Magdalena’s. They were always sitting together during meals and every now and then he’d spot them elsewhere around the castle, laughing and messing around. This was the friend who seemed more approachable to him, which he was thankful for. The other one always seemed to have a sour face. 

  
The girl narrowed her eyes upon finding him there, stopping to look at him. “Can I help you?”

  
Severus awkwardly cleared his throat, trying to avoid eye contact with her. “I was wondering if you knew where your friend Magdalena was.”

  
“Are you here to apologize?” 

  
Her voice was stern, but Severus figured she was just protective of her friend. This one (is her name Clementine?) never seemed to have much of a problem with him in the rare moments that they had interacted with one another over the years. She didn’t seem like the type to partake in bullying, far too concerned with her schoolwork and following the rules.

  
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “It seems you already know what it is that I need to discuss with her.”

  
For some reason, that caused her to smile a little, letting go of her steely exterior if only for a moment. “Whatever,” she mumbled, beginning to tap on one of the many barrels that surrounded the entrance. As a stone slab began to move, revealing a bright passageway, she turned back to Severus.

  
“Wait here.” She entered the passageway and turned back once more. “Oh, and you should really consider it, you know. She’s actually really good with people… She’d be a good wingman.” 

  
Severus groaned internally. It looks like they’d gotten the full story, huh? 

Magdalena was surprised, to say the least, when Clementine rushed into their room with a devious grin on her face and told her who was waiting for her. She protested it at first, claiming she was worried that he would still be mad at her. However, her friend seemed eager to have her go out and talk to him, nearly having to physically drag her out of her bed where she was trying to enjoy a quiet evening. 

  
She was just happy that it wasn’t Allegra who had found him waiting out there. Who knows what she would’ve said to him?

  
Stopping just before the common room’s exit, Magdalena tried to recollect herself. Unfortunately, she also realized in this moment that she was wearing quite embarrassing pajamas that her grandmother had gotten for her last Christmas. Muggle fashion didn’t exactly blend in at Hogwarts.

  
She accepted that it was too late to worry about her attire at this point and made her way through the passage. 

  
“Jesus Christ,” Severus exclaimed the second he saw her. He narrowed his eyes as he read the writing on her shirt, just below an illustration of a hedgehog. “ _Everything quill be okay_?” His tone was acerbic and judgmental, but he found the shirt (and the matching sleep trousers covered in pictures of miniature hedgehogs) to be… charming?

  
Magdalena looked down to her shirt bashfully, feeling attacked by his incredulous reaction. “It’s just a shirt,” she mumbled, head hung low. 

  
Severus realized that his attempt at making her laugh failed miserably. “Oh, no… I…” he stuttered. “I was just trying to joke the way you do.”

  
This caught her attention, causing her to look back up at him. He tried to give a little smile, but it felt awkward and ingenious. They stared at one another in silence for what felt like, to Magdalena at least, an agonizingly long minute. 

  
Finally, Severus spoke. 

  
“Let’s do it.” 


	4. help from cosmopolitan

Severus Snape was not necessarily conventionally attractive. 

  
His skin was ghostly pale, allowing one to see the thick blue veins running across his hands. He had long black hair that reached his shoulders, straight yet unruly. He was rather thin, tall and gangly. His teeth weren’t perfectly straight, and he had a large hooked-nose, which were both commonly used as inspiration for cruel insults from his classmates. 

  
Magdalena enjoyed looking at him, regardless. While the separate pieces of his appearance weren’t accepted by society as beautiful, she felt that the way they collected to form Severus was beautiful. She knew that he would have some snide remark ready if she told him that, so she tried to keep it to herself. 

  
That was a little difficult, however, when she kept losing her focus and then absentmindedly staring at him. Especially his hands. She loved to look at his hands. 

  
“Magdalena,” Severus snapped. “How are you this incapable of paying attention? No wonder you can’t brew potions correctly.” 

  
She quickly removed her eyes from his hands, her face feeling hot with embarrassment. “I _was_ paying attention.”

  
Severus raised his eyebrows slowly, cocking his head to the side. “Oh, really?” He drawled. “What’s the last thing I said?”

  
_Shit_.

  
“Mix… the brew…” Magdalena replied, trying not to raise her voice at the end, knowing that that would make it sound like a question.

  
He immediately scoffed as he slammed his potions textbook shut. “I was still overviewing the ingredients list.”

  
Magdalena groaned, throwing her body back in order to lay down on the sofa she was sitting on. “I give up.”

  
There was a disappointed silence between the two of them as Magdalena took in her surroundings. Bookshelves lined the walls of a relatively small room, packed to the brim with textbooks on potion-brewing, along with a variety of standard ingredients. Various sized cauldrons sat around the room, surrounding the center where they sat together. Magdalena opted for the plush sofa, while Severus sat in a rather uncomfortable looking armchair. 

  
“How did you ever even find this place?”

  
Severus shrugged. “I’ve always enjoyed wandering the castle in my spare time, ever since my first year here. I was… well, I was trying to hide from someone one day, I guess, and a door appeared just when I needed it to. It locked up right away, and I was able to stay concealed for as long as I needed.”

  
“Who were you hiding from?”

  
“That’s irrelevant.”

  
She continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer. 

  
“When I came back the next day, it opened for me again. It was different on the inside, though. It seems to change depending on what I need.”

  
“Hmm,” Magdalena hummed, accepting that he wasn’t going to answer her last question. “What did you need, then? When you came back the next day.” 

Severus looked around the room. “I guess I just needed a place to be alone.”

  
“Does it open for others, too?”

  
He shrugged.

  
“Well, does it work with your friends?”

  
Another shrug.

  
“What, did you never show this place to your friends?”

  
“Like I said, I needed a place to be alone.”

  
Magdalena watched him advert his eye contact from hers and begin to look back through his textbook, jotting notes down with a quill. That was often how he signaled to her that he wanted a conversation to be over. 

  
_Am I the only person he’s ever shown this place to?_

  
She felt that there must have been some tension between him and his friends; Magdalena knew that, had she found this place on her own, she would have immediately told Allegra and Clementine. Maybe that was just a consequence of her Hufflepuff demeanor. Regardless, she wasn’t going to tell them about it now, as she wouldn’t want them to come by when Severus was trying to enjoy time alone.

  
If that was why he didn’t show this place to his friends, then why had he shown it to her, of all people? She wondered if maybe he didn’t hate her half as much as he let on. That thought made her smile to herself as she watched him, in hopes that maybe she would be able to crack his cold exterior. 

  
“You’re doing that thing again,” Severus drawled, eyes still glued to his book.

  
“What thing?”

  
“You’re staring.”

  
Oh, yeah. Severus had to tell her that sometimes she had a habit of staring at people or things, and that he did not like it when she chose to stare at him. She had tried to laugh it off and make a joke (she repeated back to him in his deep voice and acerbic tone _I do not appreciate being stared at_ ), but really, she was quite embarrassed that he had even noticed. Her absentminded daydreaming was apparently becoming a problem.

  
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m trying to think about the best way to advertise you.”

  
Severus scoffed. “ _Advertise me_?”

“Yeah, you know, to Lily.”

  
“So, we’re onto my thing now, huh? Also, selling me to her doesn’t sound very romantic.”

  
Magdalena giggled. “That’s funny. You don’t really seem like a romantic.”

  
“How so?”

  
“Well, you’ve got that unforgiving attitude and you always act as though you want to be left alone.”

  
Severus shifted in his seat nervously. He didn’t like being analyzed and picked apart and judged. 

  
“So, you think I need to change that?”

  
“No,” Magdalena replied quickly. “Not at all. I’m sure Lily thinks it’s cute.”

  
He furrowed his brow in confusion. 

  
“You’ve got a very… Mr. Darcy feel to you. I think you should run with that.”

  
“Who?”

  
She sighed. “Never mind. It’s a muggle thing.”

  
Magdalena wondered if Severus was already beginning to regret this little agreement of theirs. While she could slack off on the potions guidance that he offered, she really did want to help him with Lily. It was important she held up her side of the bargain.

  
“Alright,” she exclaimed, pushing herself back into a seated position on the sofa. “I have been doing some research, and I found a few pieces of information that might help.”

  
“Research? They have books for things like this in the library?”

  
She laughed. “No, no. I contacted my mum and had her send me a couple magazines that I think might help. They’re called Cosmopolitan. They’re, like, magazines for women.”  
“Muggle things?” 

  
His tone was typical of the way he usually spoke, and he didn’t appear offended by the idea of muggle items. Yet, she was reminded by what Wren had said to her a couple weeks ago. _“They don’t like your kind.”_

  
“Are you okay with that?” Magdalena asked, needing an answer. If he was prejudiced regarding blood purity, she would need to know right away. She had no interest in continuing contact with someone like that.

  
Severus seemed uncomfortable by the inquiry.

  
“I have nothing against muggle-born witches and wizards, no. I might have something against their garish literature, however,” he muttered, grabbing one of the magazines and beginning to flip through it.

  
“Are you trying to change the subject?”

  
“Oh, look,” he mumbled, smirking deviously as he pointed at one of the various headlines that accompanied the cover of one of the magazines. “An article titled, ‘Are You a Pain in the Neck? We Tell You What Your Best Friends Won’t.’ Maybe you ought to give it a read.”

  
Magdalena scoffed, looking around at the other issues she had with her. “Ah, look, one for you as well! ‘How to be Happy with What You’ve Got When You Know That’s All You’ll Get.’”   
Severus’ little grin faded, understanding exactly what she had meant by it. He seemed deadly serious once more, and Magdalena instantly felt guilty. It wasn’t often that he joked around with her, even if it was just to avoid the discussion of certain unfavorable topics.

  
She thought to apologize but figured that that might only make him more upset. Severus seemed to prefer it when others couldn’t detect his emotions, especially when it was something vulnerable.

  
“Actually, you won’t be needing it, because I’m gonna turn that all around.” 

  
He scoffed. “Well, if I had known your only knowledge came from this, then I don’t believe I would have agreed.”

  
Magdalena giggled. “First of all, this is very valuable source material. My mum singlehandedly saved my parents’ marriage with these! Second of all, I am going to have you snogging Lily Evans by Christmas.”

  
Avoiding the reference to snogging Lily, which made Severus’ heart quicken in his chest, he returned to the magazines. “Ah, yes. Valuable source material such as ‘How to Stop Stifling Your Feelings and Become a Truly Sexual Woman.’”

  
“Hmm,” Magdalena hummed, grabbing the magazine from Severus’ hands. “I’ll have to keep that one for later, actually.”

  
Severus scoffed as he shifted around in his seat, nervous once more, refusing to meet her eyes. Magdalena found it adorable. 

  
By the time Severus had returned to his dormitory, he was truly exhausted. The two of them spent all day switching between potions lessons and trying to form a plan to get Severus back on Lily’s good side. Well, Magdalena kept coming up with more crass ways to put it, but Severus tried to forget about that. The two of them were shocked upon leaving the Room of Requirement to find that the sun had already set, and that they had missed dinner. 

  
This especially surprised Severus; he was never able to spend an entire day with someone. He always needed time alone throughout the day, even when he was with the people he liked the most. Why didn’t he grow exhausted of Magdalena?

  
Regulus, who was sitting in bed reading out of his Charms textbook, watched as Severus tried to unwind from his busy day. 

  
“Where were you?”

  
Severus shrugged as he tugged his Slytherin tie off from his neck. “Around.”

  
“Hmm,” Regulus hummed, placing his book down. “Were you, perhaps, tutoring a very pretty Hufflepuff in the subtle science that is potions-making?”

  
This caused him to freeze, body still, as though he was a dog that just got caught doing something naughty. He didn’t have time to contemplate his body’s involuntary reaction to the mention of Magdalena.

  
“She told you about it?”

  
“Yeah, in Ancient Runes. I was asking her what she was going to do about her miserable potions marks, and she said she had it all under control. I, as someone who almost got blown up by one of her rubbish brews last year, inquired further as to how that would even be possible. You know what she told me?”

  
Severus stared back at his friend, slowly raising his eyebrows. “I’m dying to know,” he deadpanned, trying to sound uninterested. 

“She said she had the best teacher she could possibly find. Severus Snape, of course,” Regulus recounted through a wide grin.

  
“She needed help,” he replied, matter-of-factly.

  
“So, let me get this straight… You’re tutoring her for nothing in return purely because she needed the help?”

  
Severus stared back, surprised. Magdalena hadn’t told him about her end of the deal? Maybe she was better at keeping secrets than he thought she would be.

  
“Looks like it.”

  
He knew that Regulus was trying to imply that he was developing feelings for her, but he just continued to ignore him. If he knew that this was all a part of a convoluted and ridiculous plan to get Lily to like Severus, he would be very upset. It seemed like every other day Regulus was trying to get him to accept defeat and “forget all about her already.”

  
All of this showed Severus that he was correct in assuming that the two of them enjoyed gossiping during their class together. He wondered what else Magdalena told him about, and, more importantly, what the hell Regulus had told her about him.

  
It reminded him of their uncomfortable exchange earlier in the day. He could tell that Magdalena was trying to pry information on his friends regarding their beliefs towards blood purity. It was no secret that certain Slytherins, especially those with whom Severus surrounded himself, had rather harsh views of muggles. 

  
He wondered how long he could avoid the subject from coming up again. What if one of his friends were to call Magdalena a mudblood to her face? He couldn’t imagine a good end to that scenario. There simply needed to be a continued sense of distance between his friends and her. 

  
“Regulus,” he began, his tone soft. “Please don’t tell anyone that I’ve been helping her.”

  
He nodded slowly, as though he knew exactly why Severus asked him of that. The fact of it left unsaid, hanging in the air. 

  
It was true that Severus did not agree with the exclusionary beliefs about blood purity, but he allowed his friends to carry on with their prejudices. Sometimes he wondered if their   
comments were rubbing off on him, if he was not only pretending to dislike them in order to stay close to his friends. If he truly disapproved, then wouldn’t he speak his mind? Wouldn’t he stop being their friend?

  
All he knew was that he loved Lily, and she was muggle-born. This, however, made him remember his fifth year at Hogwarts. The memory still haunted him. 

  
Severus felt like a coward. Though, he had to admit, the thought of Magdalena staring gently at his hands as though they were the most wonderous thing she had ever seen earlier that day made him feel better.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading! :) I appreciate your comments, as well!  
> let it be know, I did extensive research regarding the presence of Cosmopolitan magazine in the UK. The issues referenced are all from 1976, and all of the headlines mentioned really were featured on those covers. I don't know, I found it a little funny.  
> I hope everyone's doing well! I've been a bit busy with the start of a new semester, but I'm glad to have some free time to write this.


	5. eavesdropping & palmistry

Magdalena was, admittedly, nervous.

She had just arrived in the library, hoping to spend the day finishing up an essay undisturbed by her friends. She didn’t usually pay a lot of attention to the random students she passed throughout the castle, but the flash of reddish hair caught her eyes.

Lily Evans, the girl who had been at the back of her mind for several weeks now, was sitting at a small table surrounded by some of her closest friends. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They were all laughing together, a collection of books and parchment and quills laid out on the table in front of them. Lily and James seemed to be sitting a little _too_ close together.

Magdalena involuntarily winced. It was like watching a goal being scored against your favorite quidditch team. Except she was the coach of the team, not just a fan or a spectator. She had a job to do. She wanted Severus to be the one making goals.

With this in mind, she chose to sit at a nearby table. Perhaps they would say something that she could work with during her next meeting with Severus. Some kind of gossip, a bit of information about Lily. Perhaps something about Potter that Severus could use against him? Maybe there was a bit of Slytherin in her, after all.

She didn’t necessarily want them to be totally aware that she was there, causing her to pick a spot behind a shelf of books. It was big enough to conceal her from their sights while allowing her to hear every bit of their conversation and peek at them through the books. After having a run-in once with Sirius a year ago that ended quite poorly, she imagined he still held a bit of resentment towards her.

“I don’t know why he has to be such a git to me,” Sirius stated, gesturing emotively with his hands. “He _loves_ Regulus, of course.”

“We all know why,” James interjected. “It’s amazing he lets any Gryffindor’s into his little inner-circle.”

Everyone at the table glanced over to Lily, who let out a conflicted sigh.

“He’s a brilliant professor, and he’s just… particular about the students he likes. That doesn’t mean he believes in some silly house rivalry.”

“That’s true,” Remus offered, looking up to Sirius from the piece of parchment he was scrawling on. “Besides, maybe you ought to admit that you could have spent a little less time in his class over the years causing trouble and a little more time actually brewing potions.”

Sirius smirked, rolling his eyes as though he knew it were true but was still annoyed.

“He loves my family yet treats me like I’m bloody Pettigrew here!”

Peter, who had been silent until that moment, let out a noise of offense. “It’s not my fault I spilled that hot cauldron over his lap second year; _you_ pushed me!”

The five of them broke into laughter, and Magdalena realized that they must have been talking about Professor Slughorn. He was known for his gift of identifying and befriending the students who he believed would go on to greatness after Hogwarts. He would throw little dinner parties throughout the year, including a rather special Christmas party. Of course, Magdalena and her rubbish potions skills had never caught the attention of Slughorn, and, as a muggle-born, she had no notable family name to fall back on.

“Regulus is quite talented beyond the Black name,” began Lily. “He scores well in all of his classes, and you know how much Slughorn loves quidditch players.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sirius mumbled, accepting defeat. “Of course, I love Regulus… I just wish he chose better friends, if that’s what you can even call them.”

Magdalena felt her heartrate quicken, and she immediately looked over to Lily’s face to gauge her reaction. As expected, her smile had faded, perhaps at the mention of a group of people that included Severus. There was an immediate tension that overcame the table.

“Oh, be careful,” James muttered. “We aren’t allowed to talk about _them_ when Lily’s around.”

The comment seemed to upset her further, and she adverted her eyes back to her work. “Please, just drop it.”

“I-I heard a rumor that Snivellus has a new girl to torture,” Peter announced meekly, ignoring Lily’s request.

This caught the attention of everyone at the table, Lily’s head snapping up once more. They all stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to elaborate.

“Well, you know Connor Callens?”

Everyone nodded.

“He’s taking Divination with him this term, and apparently he’s seen Severus getting pretty chummy with his class partner. She’s a Hufflepuff, I think. I can’t remember her name now.”

Magdalena froze in her seat. Maybe spying was a bad idea. A really, really bad idea. She was just grateful that Pettigrew couldn’t recall her name, meaning that she was safe for now. Also, _chummy_? She made a mental note to give Callens a very grim reading of his tea leaves during the next class. 

“Of course,” began Sirius. “You’ve finally got a great piece of information and you can’t even relay it properly.”

The way that they joked around with each other sounded harsh, but Magdalena noticed that they would always follow it up with a little smile, so as to express their affection for one another. Magdalena had to admit, she never really liked the boys, but they had a certain charm that made her want to continue watching them interact. She reminded herself, however, that they could be sweet with one another while simultaneously being awful to Severus and any other Slytherins who didn’t meet their standards. People were like that, she figured.

Lily shifted in her seat, a sour look on her face. Magdalena wondered if it was just because the table was discussing Severus, who must have been a sensitive subject for her, or if there was something else there. Was she… _jealous_?

It was hard for Magdalena to determine; she still knew so little about her previous friendship with Severus. Every time she had tried to get more information out of him, he closed up like a clam. A very ashamed, guilty clam. That, of course, led her to assume that their history was quite complicated.

A part of her hoped that she was a bit jealous; that would indicate that there was a part of her that had feelings for Severus, still. The alternative would be that she was upset at the potential of no longer yielding power over him. Though, Magdalena couldn’t imagine Lily being that type of person.

“That would be a relief, huh?” James said to Lily with a grin, ignoring Pettigrew’s inability to remember names. “He could finally be some other girl’s problem?”

She shot him a sharp look. “It’s not like that,” she spoke. “You know I still care for Severus. No matter what happened between us.”

James began to interject, but Lily raised her voice as she continued, asserting herself over him. “Peter, please talk to Callens and find out who this girl is.”

“Why? Feeling jealous?” Sirius asked with a devious grin.

Potter looked as though he _not_ like hearing that joke.

“I just want to make sure she’s nice, you know,” Lily mumbled, looking down at her work with a conflicted look on her face. “In case they are together.”

“Maybe you can ask him about it at the Slug Club party,” Peter said with a shrug. “That’s this weekend, right?”

She nodded, her eyebrows raised as though that was a possibility that she hadn’t even considered. “Yes, maybe I will.”

James watched Lily carefully, and Magdalena could feel that he was holding back. While he likely wanted to make another cruel joke about _Snivellus_ , he must have chosen Lily’s feelings over his own. Magdalena could see that he really cared for her. Lily could see it too, apparently, as she softly looked over to him and gave him a smile.

Magdalena felt a sinking in her stomach as she began to question whether or not she would be able to accomplish her goals. As the group began to move the discussion more towards their transfiguration essays and less towards Severus, she decided it was time to find a new spot where she could actually focus on her work.

She quickly discovered, however, that it didn’t make much of a difference. Her head was absolutely clouded by everything she had heard, trying to make sense of their conversation. She plotted the best way to move forward, but she kept reaching a block in her thinking. It was clear that, if she wanted to have a fighting chance at succeeding, she couldn’t keep working with a fuzzy understanding of the situation.

He was going to have to tell her everything, she decided.

“Why didn’t you tell me that Slughorn’s having a dinner party this weekend?”

Severus jumped in his seat, head snapping up from his book. He was quite entrenched in the story, almost forgetting that he was sitting in the Divinations classroom after arriving about twenty minutes early. 

“I didn’t realize I had to inform you of everything going on in my life.”

She scoffed, setting her books down and sitting beside him.

“No, only things that involve,” she looked around at the nearby students before lowering her voice to a whisper, “ _Lily Evans_. I mean, this could be a big moment for you… a chance to have her separated from James and his friends.”

Severus let out a sigh, closing his book and placing it as his side. “I had considered that, yes.”

Magdalena began to talk excitedly about how great of an opportunity it was for him to start talking to Lily again. Sometimes when she spoke it was more of an endless ramble. It was all making Severus quite anxious, and it was a topic that he was trying to forget. 

“We need to plan! Figure out how you’re going to approach her, what you’re going to say, what you’ll wear,”

“Enough, please.” He spoke quietly, but his tone made it clear that he was upset.

She looked down to her feet. “I’m sorry… I was just trying to help.”

“Well,” Severus began, not knowing exactly what to say next. He let out a heavy sigh. “I’m not going.”

With an incredulous look on her face, she was about to ask him why not. Before she could get the words out, Professor Trelawney burst through the door in her usual grandiose fashion. Before she could begin speaking on the day’s lesson, she stopped first to speak with a student in the front row about their divine essence. Magdalena took the opportunity to continue the conversation.

“Why won’t you go?”

“I just… don’t want to.”

This was not a sufficient answer for Magdalena.

“I don’t understand. What are you, scared?”

Severus hated the way that she could see right through him sometimes. In his experience, people used that skill to manipulate him, to degrade him and get what they wanted. There was no malice in her voice, though. It was a genuine question… with a touch of concern, actually.

“How do you even know about the party? It’s not like he invited you, unless he’s decided that academic mediocrity is suddenly very interesting.”

“ _Ha ha_ ,” she replied, scowling. “I take it that I was right, based on your attempt to misdirect the conversation, paired with a poorly-constructed insult.”

Something about the comment made Severus stifle a grin, pulling him out of his poor mood if only for a moment. As comfortable as he was with Magdalena, he was not going to admit to being scared. Not about anything.

“Those dinners are a waste of time. Listening to people talk about whatever their _fathers_ do and listening to Slughorn butter them up in the hopes of exploiting their future success.”

She stared back at him, staying silent, with a scowl on her face that seemed to say that she knew that he was full of shit.

“The food isn’t good, either.”

Usually, that little joke would have made her laugh, and the tension between them would be resolved. That was all she needed from him most of them time, a small reminder that he enjoyed her presence even if he was upset at everything else in the world. Today, however, something else seemed to be bothering her.

She crossed her arms and let out an annoyed huff.

Finally, at the front of the room, Professor Trelawney began an engaging albeit confusing lecture on palmistry. She wasn’t necessarily one for the standard educational structure, however; she much preferred allowing students to experiment with the practices of Divination while she stalked around the classroom listening in and making generally unhelpful comments.

With that, she gave her class the page of the textbook with the palm reading charts and told them to see into the future of their partner through “the beautiful lines of their weathered skin.” Severus knew that Magdalena was annoyed with him, but they were going to have to get through this class.

“Can I see your hand?”

She sighed, offering it up for inspection. Severus tried to discern what type of hand she had, and, out of curiosity, did the same for himself. According to the guide featured in _Unfogging the Future_ , she had water hands and he had earth hands. He read off her traits to her, about being intuitive and wise and then looked to the information on his.

_While secure and reliable, they can become too consumed with their immediate realities, which can ultimately hinder long-term planning and achievement._

He chose not to read it out loud. He could already imagine on his own the jokes Magdalena would make if given that ammunition. Instead, he continued on with his reading.

“It looks as though you will gain great recognition and fortune later in your life,” Severus determined.

As he spoke, Professor Trelawney approached their table, eager to find something to say about, well, anything. Her eyes were wide as she stared at Magdalena, leaning in closely.

“Sweet girl, your aurora is heavy today. Are you staying away from the darkness?”

Severus watched the scene, holding himself back from rolling his eyes. Magdalena just shrugged in response, clearly not in the mood to play along with the antics of the Divinations professor as she usually did. It was funny to watch the two of them together, as though they were trying to out-crazy the other. The issue was that Magdalena was the only who joking about it; Trelawney, on the other hand, took it deadly serious and, as a result, believed that the young Hufflepuff had a gift of sorts.

“Ah, this is very unlike you…” Trelawney drawled, scratching her head in apparent confusion and conflict. Suddenly, she turned her focus to Severus.

“My boy, please take care of yourself, as well. I see a heaviness in your soul and spirit.” She looked down to their hands and tsked. “You must hold the hand of the palm that you are reading. It helps you merge the body and soul of the reader and the read. Also, it just feels nice to hold someone’s hand every now and then.”

Professor Trelawney physically moved Magdalena’s hand onto Severus’, patting it gently before pulling away. It appeared that she was about to move on but was suddenly stopped in her tracks. She stared directly into Severus’ eyes.

“An attack on your life may be made soon, and it will likely succeed.”

With that, Trelawney gave them a toothy grin and floated off to another unsuspecting pair of students.

Magdalena’s face was stuck in confusion and shock. “ _An attack on your life_?”

“I can’t say that I’m all that concerned.”

“Okay, I know that things are a bit rough right now with Lily, but that’s no reason to have such a bleak outlook on life.”

Severus scoffed. “No, that’s not what I meant. Trelawney prophesized my imminent demise every other week when I first took Divinations my third year. She just always thinks I’m on the brink of death.”

“Probably your sallow skin. She must think you have scurvy or something.”

It was very unlike her to comment on his appearance, Severus noted. Especially in a negative light. Every now and then she would compliment his hair or point out how long his eyelashes were, little things like that. He figured they were just pity compliments, but they filled his chest with a warm feeling, nevertheless. Receiving compliments was not a common occurrence for him.

That was why it was especially upsetting to hear her take a jab at his complexion. He was about to throw back an insulting retort when he watched her groan, ripping her hand from his and using it to cover her face. Severus hated how cold his hand suddenly felt.

“I did something kind of bad today.”

_Ah, this must be why she’s acting so weird,_ Severus thought while waiting for her to continue.

“I maybe… eavesdropped on Lily and her friends.”

He sighed. “That’s not _that_ bad. Don’t be such a Hufflepuff.”

This time she responded with a meek smile. He wondered if she was already feeling better after having admitted to what she’d done. “My apologies.”

“Which friends?”

She bit her lip. “James, Sirius, Remus, Peter.”

There was a sinking feeling in his chest at the mention of their names. He was well aware that they were all friends and spent time together, but it still upset him greatly to think that Lily would stoop so low as to befriend those cavemen. Of course, he felt this despite knowing that she could say the same things about his friends and be correct. Well, maybe Magdalena was the exception now.

She reached out and grabbed Severus’ hand from across the table, bringing it as close to her eyes as she could. Referring to her chart, she began making some claims about his future.

“You have a deep, long love line,” she spoke quietly. “Which means you’ll have a lengthy and significant romance.”

“Only one?” Severus asked immediately, though he wasn’t sure why.

She looked up from his palm, meeting his eyes. “Do you need more than one?”

Severus could feel his palms getting clammy, and he hoped that Magdalena wasn’t notice despite her tight grip.

"Did you hear anything interesting, in all of your treacherous spying?”

Magdalena seemed conflicted once more, and Severus wondered if Trelawney wasn’t that off with her comment about staying away from the darkness. He watched her look across the room before shrugging.

“No, not really.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope whoever's reading this is doing well! Thanks! I took a while on this chapter, going back and forth on exactly what I wanted to do with it. hopefully you like it! please let me know :)


	6. boyfriends and girlfriends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that it took me a while to update :( life has blasting my ass lately. I also went back and forth a LOT on this. I want people to like it but also I want to like it. so I just wrote what I wanted and hopefully you guys vibe with it. let me know :) but also please don't be mean, I will cry.

“This is just awful to watch. Are you deliberately trying to upset me?”

Magdalena looked up from the potion to her very disgruntled-looking tutor. It took everything in her power to not respond with malice or exasperation.

“I’m mixing. Like the instructions said.”

He raised a brow, cocking his head slightly. “The instructions say to mix _slowly_. The ingredients aren’t supposed to be fully mixed together.”

This had been a very challenging potions lesson for her. Severus gave her the grueling task of not only producing a new brew that she had never tried before but also set the ground rule that she had to hold her “dramatics” to a minimum. This meant that she had to hold back all of her scoffs or exasperated groans, and she certainly wasn’t allowed to flop down on the sofa and announce that she was dropping out of Hogwarts and has given up on witchcraft for the rest of her life.

She had no idea why he called her dramatic.

It wasn’t her fault that she had been extra impatient these past few days. She was trying to strike a balance between focusing on her heavy course load and focusing on Severus’ little problem, which was increasingly difficult. The way he behaved, it seemed like he was doing everything to make her job harder.

He never admitted to being scared of talking to Lily (nor exactly why), _but_ she did convince him to go to Slughorn’s party. It took a joint effort with Regulus which was carefully crafted during their ancient runes class early in the week.

“Severus responds well to being shamed,” he had remarked, half-paying attention as he scribbled some final notes after class ended.

She had scoffed in return. “Well, I don’t think we should bring out that part of him just to get what we want.”

“Aw,” he murmured, looking up at her. “You’re quite sweet to him. How does he handle you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He’d just shrugged, beginning to put his things away. “Well, people haven’t exactly been all that kind to him here, if you haven’t noticed.”

“Like your brother?”

Regulus shot her an incredulous look before laughing a little. “You’re right… but Sirius is an ass most of the time even to the people he _does_ like.” It was odd; he didn’t seem as though he was exactly comfortable discussing the topic, but he still continued. “Honestly? I think sometimes he just takes out his anger about me being placed in Slytherin onto Sev.”

Magdalena stared back, confused. Their ancient runes class was then empty as everyone, including the professor, left to get to lunch. She figured that she would try to get as much information out of Regulus that she could.

“Well, I think he still feels obligated to love me, especially considering I’m one of the last members of our family that he hasn’t completely sworn off.”

She had heard lots of scary rumors about their family, pureblood and wealthy and powerful. It was one of those things that made her question whether or not she should even talk to him, considering she was a muggleborn. Though, she never really heard him say anything prejudiced… and she always wanted to assume the best of people.

“But in his mind, me being sorted into Slytherin was some unforgiveable crime, as though I had any choice to make. I mean, I can’t speak for his other friends.”

There had been a long silence between them after that, neither one wanting to make the move to leave the room and end the conversation. Finally, Regulus spoke again.

“I know what you’re trying to do, Magdalena, but I think that you’re a bit misguided. I don’t think he wants to be with her in the way that you want him to; I think he just wants her not to hate him anymore.”

As she sat in his secret little room, watching Severus carefully try to salvage the mess that she created by her “stupidly-fast mixing,” she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Though, she couldn’t say that out loud. He would be furious.

Regulus’ parting words loomed heavily in her mind. Maybe he was right, maybe Severus didn’t even want to date Lily anymore. Maybe he just wanted his best friend back.

Magdalena had already noticed the ways in which he seemed extremely unreceptive towards any of her guidance about charming Lily. Up until that point she had just assumed that he was too scared to carry out the advice, or that he just still didn’t trust her.

Of course, she knew that he wasn’t going to tell her these things in a straightforward way. She would have to pull the truth out of him in strategic bits. Some may call that manipulative; however, in honor to the Slytherin house, she preferred to consider it _resourceful_.

“Are you excited to talk to Lily tonight?”

Severus let out an annoyed sigh. He had been like that all day, on-edge and easily irritable. Well, he was like that most of the time, but usually he was better at keeping it to himself, for the most part.

“You’re obsessed with this topic, hm?”

Magdalena giggled, offering a shrug. “It’s just a shame I’m not interesting enough to be invited to the dinner party in the first place… I could make observations in person.”

“I don’t think it’s a matter of being interesting. I think he just only invites people who follow the instructions for the speed at which to properly stir a potion.”

She had a variety of snarky responses that she would have enjoyed delivering (and that Severus would have likely enjoyed hearing), but she knew she couldn’t let the subject be changed. She had a plan for this conversation.

“You know, it’s odd. These past few weeks I’ve been coaching you on how to talk to Lily, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you talk to Lily. Or hear about you talking to Lily. I don’t even see you exist near her.”

He looked up from the potion, which by now seemed to be doing much better in his competent hands. “Well, I haven’t spoke to her in a while. She probably doesn’t even think about me these days, or… notice my absence from her life.”

“Well… not exactly,” Magdalena murmured, before she could stop herself. There goes her “resourceful” attempt at collecting information.

“Wait, what do you mean?”

His voice remained even, but Magdalena could still hear the seriousness in it.

“Well, the other day when I was listening in on their conversation… your name might’ve come up.”

In response, Severus just shrugged, now seeming less interested. “Let me guess, her charming friends made some hilarious joke about the stick that’s up _Snivellus’_ ass.”

Magdalena couldn’t help but giggle. “No, no. But I think she’ll want to talk to you tonight. So, please don’t chicken out.”

She pushed her potions notes aside and pulled out her special piece of parchment. “Let’s review our notes for tonight.”

Severus provided a little annoyed hum as he continued working with the potion.

“First, try and sit by her for the dinner. Don’t be aggressive about it, but more like, “oh, hey, is this seat taken?” You know? Then, try and make a light joke to diffuse the tension between you two. Nothing morbid or snarky or sarcastic, like you usually do. Now that you’ve got her talking, try and compliment her in some way. Maybe something about her outfit… or her hair. She has really nice hair.”

This elicited another impatient sigh from Severus.

“Now you guys are talking and it’s good, right? Try to avoid talking about her friends…”

The reasoning for that went unspoken, as they both understood.

“Mags, I know what I’m doing.”

She gasped a little, pulling the piece of parchment away from her face. She was smiling widely, as she always seemed to be.

“Severus Snape,” she began, humor in her voice. “Did you just call me by a nickname?”

“Shit,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head. He hadn’t even meant to say it. Most of the time it was just the way he referred to her in his head.

This caused her to laugh. “You know, I never imagined you’d be the affectionate type.”

He scoffed, looking down full of embarrassment. “And exactly who said I was being _affectionate_?”

She found it funny how much her teasing got to him. He was usually so well-composed, so careful in what he said. She was surprised by how warm she felt in her chest when he said it, and she decided to stop joking around in the hopes that he might say it again.

Severus was used to the way his heart beat when he was anxious, after all these years. Tonight was no exception, along with the familiar sickly feeling that settled throughout his body as he made his way to Slughorn’s personal quarters.

There was no reason that he should be invited to these dinners. He was convinced that Slughorn only offered Severus the chance because he felt bad for him and his life’s predicaments. He was the first professor who he really felt he could trust, a Slytherin like himself who always noticed and praised his hard work and intelligence. Sure, he didn’t have notable, wealthy parents, and there wasn’t necessarily anything special about him, but Slughorn still had a keen eye for seeing the potential in people. That’s also why he favored Lily.

Severus had fond memories from his first few years at Hogwarts of staying after potions class with Lily and getting lost in conversation with Slughorn. At first, they were just eager to learn more about brewing potions, but the professor slowly began to learn more about them as people.

As he turned the corner, he wasn’t expecting to see Lily standing outside Slughorn’s door, tapping her foot slightly in what looked like nervousness. Severus noticed her dress, and it reminded him of the times in which they hung out with each other outside of school. Going to Hogsmeade in year three, summers back home in Cokeworth.

He wished that the sight of her hadn’t caused him to stop walking immediately and nearly trip over his feet, but of course, it did.

“Severus,” she remarked, unfolding her arms and standing up straighter.

“Lily.”

She offered the smallest hint of a smile. Severus wondered if maybe it would have hurt less if she had just not smiled at all.

“I was waiting for you, actually.”

Severus furrowed his brows, trying to remain calm. They hadn’t prepared for this in all their planning.

“Why?” He regretted the way he said it; it came off as hostile.

Luckily, Lily was used to the way he spoke. She didn’t seem thrown off. Maybe she did some planning of her own.

She let out a little sigh and looked down at her feet. “I don’t know… I thought it might be nice to sit together, like we used to. Not many more of these dinners left, huh?”

He had no idea why she was being nice to him.

“That’s true.”

Then, they fell into a painful minute of silence, though Severus was sure it had been at least five minutes. He thought carefully about what to say next, trying to remember anything from Magdalena’s silly little notes. What did she tell him to compliment her on? Suddenly, he was angry at himself for not paying better attention to her ramblings.

_Something light, right? Don’t bring up James. Be cool?_

“You have nice hair,” he finally blurted out.

This caused her initially reserved smile to widen. She seemed surprised by the comment.

“Thank you, Severus. You have nice hair, too.”

Before he could make some self-deprecating comment about his long, unkempt hair, Magdalena’s words encouraging him to “stay confident and avoid snark” came to mind. If he was going to go through all of the trouble of obtaining her advice, he might as well stick to it.

He couldn’t necessarily bring himself to thank her for the compliment, however. He knew she was just being polite, and he felt that if acknowledged the comment too much then it would seem that he believed her. He didn’t want to look like a fool.

Luckily, Lily just accepted the lack of response and gestured towards the door. “I wonder what’s on the menu for tonight.”

They began to move together now, entering the doorway as Severus tried to come up with a funny response, but he found that his mind was blank.

_What would Mags say right now?_

She was funny, right? He figured she would make some inane comment about not caring what the food was like as long as there was wine.

Once again, he chose silence.

As soon as they entered, Slughorn brought them into the group conversation, animatedly introducing them to the newest member, the up-and-coming quidditch star of the Hufflepuff team. She was a fifth year, and Severus wondered if she knew Magdalena at all.

The dinner officially began as the students took their seats, and Severus tried to focus on things to say to Lily when there was a break in the big group conversation. Luckily it was easy to ignore the drawl of Richard Rainmaker telling everyone about his father’s newest discoveries with magical moss types.

“So,” Lily began quietly, apparently also uninvested in the discussion. “How have you been?”

Severus wondered why she had to ask such a difficult question.

“Fine… just studying,” he murmured back, staring down at his food. “You?”

She shrugged. “Pretty much the same. Getting ready for the NEWTs.”

“I’m sure you’ll do amazing.”

He wasn’t just trying to follow Magdalena’s instructions about being nice to her; he knew Lily was incredibly smart and capable.

In the corner of his eye, he watched her produce a small smile again. He was happy that he could still make her smile, even just a little.

“Any… new life developments?”

He furrowed his brow in confusion. “New life developments?”

“Yeah. Any new… friends?”

He couldn’t quite see what she was getting at.

“Lily,” Slughorn bellowed, pulling her from their side conversation. “How are your studies going?”

She gave the table a charming smile and began to recount her term thus far, and she was suddenly engaged in a back-and-forth with the professor about her plans for the future.

Severus took advantage of the time where he could just watch her, listen to her discuss things she was passionate about. He was reminded of how much he loved her. No matter what happened between them.

That thought proved to be immediately tested as Slughorn cleared his throat and asked yet another question.

“Now, I heard through the grapevine that you and that Potter boy have started dating. His parents and I go way back, actually.”

On the other side of the castle, Magdalena was having just as difficult of a night.

She just intended to sit in her favorite spot in the school and read a novel, try to take her mind off from everything else. It was a little nook, like a balcony, hidden out of sight from the main corridors, hidden behind one of the many decorative tapestries that adorned the overcrowded walls. The spot gave a great little view of the grounds.

She found it one day as a third year and had since then claimed it as her own, leaving a little knitted blanket there for when she just needed to relax by herself. With roommates, it was nice to just have a spot where you can be alone.

It didn’t end up being as helpful as it normally was, but that was more the fault of her overactive imagination. She couldn’t help but wonder how things were going for Severus at the dinner party. Was he following her advice? Was he really going to talk to Lily?

The main concern was what she might say if he did talk to her, though. Was she going to mention what Peter told her the other day in the library? What if Severus found out that she was withholding that information from him? How would she explain?

If she was being totally honest with herself, she didn’t know why she refused to tell him about it. It’s not that she was embarrassed by the implication, but she was trying to figure out why that implication had affected her so much.

She had this terrible scenario made up in her mind where she’d told Severus that someone thought they were dating, and he would respond in anger and disgust. Deep down, she knew that he wouldn’t be _that_ unkind, but it still stopped her from telling him about it.

Magdalena huffed in annoyance to herself, accepting that she wasn’t going to be able to focus on the words in front of her. She snapped her book shut and stood up, taking one last peek at the half-moon emerging in the sky. As they settled firmly into fall, the nights came earlier and earlier.

She decided a walk might be better, give her feet something to do. It wasn’t long, however, as she bounded down the halls, that she ran straight into trouble. “Trouble” being a group of boys who made her wish that she had stayed in her little nook. She heard them before they had rounded the nearby corner, voices loud.

“Moony, you know I love you, but you can really be such a square sometimes.”

“I think I’d prefer the term _rational_ , Sirius.”

“Well, I think the true term is just prefect, and not to mention—”

James Potter was unable to finish his sentence, stopping the second they turned the corner and he saw Magdalena. In fact, all four of them stopped in their tracks, which she found terrifyingly odd. They were looking at her as though they’d just ran into some weird creature from the Forbidden Forest. She was forced to stop, too, unable to move around the four imposing figures in front of her.

“Well,” Sirius remarked. “I guess that plan doesn’t matter now anyways.”

Magdalena offered an awkward smile, along with mumbling a dainty “hello.” She noticed immediately that there was the particular scent of alcohol wafting down the hallway along with them. They must have been enjoying some drinks after dinner.

“Hey there,” Remus quickly responded, producing his own awkward smile. “Sorry for blocking your way.”

He tried to move in order to allow her to pass, but Sirius grabbed his shoulder and held him firmly in place.

“You’re actually just who we were trying to find,” he informed her. The way she could hear trouble in his voice made Magdalena’s stomach turn.

“Oh,” she replied slowly. “What can I do for you guys?”

Remus looked uncomfortable and disappointed as James began to speak.

“We were just wondering if maybe we could escort you to the infirmary to go see Madame Pomfrey.”

Sirius and Peter began to chuckle.

“E-excuse me?”

She hated the entire situation. Having them loom over her like this and mock her was terrifying. She was beginning to understand how Severus must’ve felt all those years. The fact that they had been drinking was even more worrisome.

“Well,” Sirius interjected. “We’re just worried that you’ve sustained quite a serious head injury.”

“What are you talking about?” She said, hostility entering her voice.

“A girl couldn’t be in her right mind if she decided to date Snivellus.”

The three of them, excluding a terse-looking Remus, began to laugh. They were clearly impressed with their little joke. She wondered if they’d coordinated it.

Magdalena wasn’t normally the conformational type. She just wanted to tell them to fuck off and push them out of her way, but she felt frozen by fear. In fact, all she could really do was stare back at them with wide eyes and consider running the other way in shame.

“Please,” she murmured, looking down at her feet. “Just leave me alone.”

“I mean, really, I’m a bit touched by the idea,” James began. “It’s quite charitable of you to extend your kindness to someone in need.”

“Very philanthropic,” Peter added.

Sirius cleared his throat. “You know, you are _way_ too hot to be settling for a worm like that.”

" _Sirius_ ,” Remus said through gritted teeth, as though he were shocked that his friend would say that.

He ignored the low warning of his friend and began to move closer to the fear-stricken girl. “Seriously, I could tell you things about that creep that would change your mind, I promise.”

As Sirius approached her, she tried to step back slowly. She hated the way she couldn’t stand up for herself. Suddenly, a voice rang out from behind her.

“Stay away from her!”

She had never been happier to hear Severus’ voice. He ran up behind her, wand drawn and pointed firmly at Sirius Black. Instead of being scared, or drawing his own wand, the boy just giggled.

“You gonna hex me for coming on to your girlfriend?”

He gritted his teeth, jabbing the wand closer to him. Magdalena had never seen him like this; he was furious and quite scary.

“Maybe I will.”

Remus finally grabbed his friend and began pulling him back away from the situation, along with the reluctant help of James.

“Come on, Pads,” Potter began, speaking low. “We’ll be in big trouble if we’re caught like this.”

Sirius appeared to accept that as an unfortunate truth, continuing to stare down Severus as he stepped back further and further with his friends. James had his wand in his hand, ready to step in if needed. 

Severus was still shaking slightly with anger. Magdalena grabbed his arm, trying to pull him away. Then, he said the last thing she expected to hear. 

“Don’t come near my girlfriend ever again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooo a cliffhanger? what an interesting literary device I am utilizing. It is hard work being a genius but yet here I am
> 
> *also I hope it didn't seem like I was doing some kind of weird damsel in distress thing, like idk I just wanted to show the ofc as multi-dimensional, I guess, like with flaws and shortcomings
> 
> **also can you guys tell who my favorite marauder is lmao


	7. breaking bones builds character

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for writing a lot, I'm just having a lot of fun with these characters🥺  
> also!! why did no want to mention that I'm a dumbass who forgot that professor trelawney was certainly not teaching at hogwarts at this point in time. lmao it's these details that go right over my head. I finally realized while writing this the other day.

_Did he just call me his girlfriend?_

Magdalena stood in confused shock after watching the intense scene play out before her. Meanwhile, Severus patiently watched the boys walk away until they were well out of sight. Then, he motioned for her to begin to follow him back down the hallway. They made their way back to her special spot, and he disappeared behind the tapestry.

She forgot that she had mentioned it to him absentmindedly one day. She never thought he would actually go looking for it.

Eager for an explanation, she followed him. He sat down on the stone floor, pulling his legs to his chest and resting his head on his knees. It was a rather vulnerable position, Magdalena thought. She sat beside him, now shivering from the cold that hadn’t bothered her thirty minutes ago.

“What’s going on? You’re a great friend and everything, but I would have liked a say in the decision-making here if we’re suddenly dating now.”

“I know, I know,” he interjected, combing his fingers through his long hair. He looked like he was panicking. “I’m really sorry I said it. Things did not go according to our plan tonight.”

There was a painful silence that fell over the little nook. Magdalena knew she had a few other major concerns to be thinking about in the moment, but her mind kept focusing back in on Severus’ black suit from the dinner party. She had never seen him out of the Hogwarts uniform, now that she thought about it.

Finally, he spoke again.

“I’m sorry, Mags. I just… I don’t want to date Lily Evans.”

She hummed in confusion. “What are you talking about? That’s been our primary goal this whole time?”

“No, not really,” Severus murmured, closing his eyes tight for a moment. “I mean, I wanted to date her when we were younger, and I’d be lying if I said I never still thought about it every now and then… but I know that she doesn’t feel that way about me. I’ve accepted it.”

It was clear just how uncomfortable he was discussing all of this. Magdalena had never seen his body language this unpoised. He was usually so well-controlled, so completely guarded.

“You’ve accepted it?”

“Yeah. I just… I just want her back in my life. I’m always going to love her; she was my best friend. The first person to extend a shred of kindness to me.”

His voice was wavering, and for a moment she wondered if he was going to start crying. He didn’t, though. It was almost as though the thought had occurred to him as well, and he immediately worked to recollect himself.

Magdalena understood exactly what he was saying. She thought of Regulus in ancient runes that day. She repeated it quietly, voice barely above a whisper. “You just don’t want her to hate you anymore.”

He just nodded slowly, and that was all the answer that she needed.

“This doesn’t exactly explain the issue here,” she noted.

Severus finally opened his eyes and forced himself to look into Magdalena’s. “Tonight, she told me that she’s started dating Potter.”

The news, she had to admit, wasn’t all that shocking. The two were always together these days, and there had been plenty rumors about them being more than friends. Up until that point, it had been information that she was happy ignoring as she continued to try and help out Severus.

“I panicked when I found out, I guess. She began to talk about how she was happy that I had someone, too, and that she thought that this would be a great sign for us to focus on rebuilding our friendship.”

“Of course,” Magdalena remarked, as though she were in arithmancy and the answer had finally clicked in her head. “She can only feel as though you’ve moved on if you’re dating someone else. That actually makes a lot of sense.”

“Right…” Severus mumbled. “That’s why I just went along with it. I let her think that we’re together, Magdalena. I’m so sorry. That’s completely unfair to you. I swear, tomorrow morning, I’m going to go to the Gryffindor Tower and tell all of them that I was lying and that you have nothing to do with me and that I’m just your creepy potions tutor and—”

  
“Enough,” Magdalena interjected sternly. She thought to herself something about how it seemed their roles had reversed; now _he_ was the one rambling on stupidly.

He looked back down, pulling his knees in even closer to his body. Regulus wasn’t kidding about Severus being heavily affected by shame, huh?

“I wouldn’t make you do that.”

She thought about it carefully. She knew that they’d rip him apart if that happened. She was forced to imagine all the new bullying material that they would be more than happy to create. It sounded like more embarrassment than she could ever subject him to.

Severus looked over to her again slowly.

“I mean, you want to be friends with Lily again, and it’s my job to make that happen. We know that it’ll help, so I don’t mind going along with it.”

“W-what?” Severus sputtered. “ _Really_?”

Magdalena shrugged. “Why not? I mean, it’s not like I’m interested in anyone at the moment anyways. Besides, this might help me with a little problem of my own.”

“I… But… You’d actually be willing to let people think you’re dating _me_?”

She groaned, rolling her eyes. “We’re not first years anymore. I don’t care about things like that. Besides… like Peter said, I’ll look very charitable.”

Severus broke out in a smile. “Fuck you.”

“I owe you, anyways,” she responded through her giggles. “I got relatively decent marks on my potions exam today. Even Slughorn seemed shocked.”

“That… makes me happy,” Severus mumbled, finally pushing his knees away from his chest, allowing them to stretch out in front of him. It looked to Magdalena as though the stress of the situation was starting to leave his body. Did he think she was going to be furious at him?

The only boys she was furious at were probably back in the Gryffindor Tower by then, enjoying their inebriated Friday night away from potential trouble. “Can you teach me a good hex to use if they try and mess with me again?”

Severus looked back at her with a look of pleasant surprise. “A Hufflepuff asking a Slytherin for some good hexes? This must be a Hogwarts first.”

It was a brutally cold morning, and Severus regretted not doubling up on sweaters as he shivered up high on the quidditch stands. Usually, he didn’t mind being out here watching Regulus practice; at least it wasn’t as full of students screaming and cheering like during the actual games.

When they were in their second year, Regulus had to nearly beg him to come out and watch him practice from the stands. Back then, he was the youngest member on the team, and, although he wasn’t one to admit it, he felt terribly threatened by the other players. It just made him feel better knowing that Severus was there keeping an eye on him. It was one of those things between them that went unspoken but was mutually understood.

Of course, Regulus was a seventh year now, and he was no longer afraid to go to practices alone. Severus could have stayed in their room this morning by himself, but he thought it might be good to get some fresh air and clear his head a little. He didn’t realize just how freezing cold that fresh air would be, however.

He was still feeling humiliated and ashamed about how the evening had gone. The only thing that stopped him from hiding in his room under the covers of his bed for the rest of the school year was the fact that Magdalena forgave him and agreed to go along with his silly plan.

As he pondered what he was going to do about his fake girlfriend, he almost didn’t notice the collision in the air that sent the team’s beater flying off her broomstick and onto the ground below. The rest of the players immediately flew down to assist her and make sure she was okay, while Regulus decided to fly the opposite direction—further in the sky—to where Severus was seated in the stands.

He did a wonky maneuver to shift off his broomstick to sit beside him, as Severus watched with a raised brow. “Shouldn’t you be down there… as the captain of the team?”

Regulus looked down at the scene as though he had already forgotten it was happening, then gave a shrug. “Eh, they’ll figure it out. Breaking bones builds character.”

Severus just scoffed with a small grin. He remembered breaking his arm in his third year at Hogwarts (thanks, in part, to a nasty prank concocted by Sirius), which brought back the brutal taste of Skele-Gro. And, even worse than that, the unbearably long lecture from Madame Pomfrey on the importance of valuing and taking care of one’s bones. She told him sometimes the Skele-Gro doesn’t work, which he later found out was just a myth she’d tell troublesome young students in the hopes of convincing them not to push their luck.

“I was sorry to miss dinner last night,” Regulus remarked, steadying his breath.

“Slughorn understands. He went on for nearly an hour about your future which was ‘sure to be filled with quidditch glory’.”

“As long as someone is confident in my abilities,” he scoffed, looking down bitterly.

Severus knew that his friend was always quite hard on himself, always worried he wasn’t trying hard enough. He carried the emotional weight of the entire team on his shoulders, which anyone could tell was quite damaging. He just figured that that was the disadvantage of being close to your family; you have to always try and live up to their standards.

This was why Regulus had to skip dinner last night. He needed a good night’s rest before he awoke at dawn and dragged the rest of the angry and petulant team down with him to the field.

Before he could try to find something supportive to say (which, admittedly, was still a skill he was working on), Regulus spoke again.

“So… did you get a chance to speak with Lily?”

He knew that the question was going to be asked at some point. Severus looked down to the field in the hopes that the team would be ready to get back to practice and he would be saved. Unfortunately, they were still crowded around her talking animatedly.

"Sure,” he mumbled, trying to seem unbothered. “I think she’s ready to have me back in her life, actually.”

He scoffed in disbelief. “What? Well… brilliant! Looks like Magdalena is serving her purpose quite well then.”

Severus held back a little chuckle. “Yeah, she’s really doing the most she can.”

“Well, tell me more!” Regulus urged, trying to figure out why his friend was being so nonchalant regarding something he obviously cared a lot about.

“She’s dating Potter.”

The smile disappeared from his face, and it looked as though he was trying to pick his next words carefully. “I’m sorry, mate. How… does that make you feel?”

“Obviously I pity the poor girl,” Severus shrugged with a little smirk. “But I… am… trying to respect her decisions. That’s what Magdalena told me to do.”

Regulus hummed in thought.

“By the way, Mags and I dating now.”

“ _What_?”

Severus figured his friend probably thought he had just entered some alternate universe or something. He found it funny to play around with him like this, especially after the way Regulus hounded him since the beginning of term to make a move on Magdalena.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t hold back his smirk.

“Oh,” Regulus began, sounding annoyed. “I see, you’re just messing with me.”

“No, no,” he interjected quickly. “We are dating. Just, you know, fake-dating.”

“ _Fake-dating_?”

“Yes, we’re in a fake relationship.”

He groaned, throwing his head back animatedly. “And why would you do that? What, are you trying to make her jealous or something?”

“You know, I hadn’t even thought about that,” Severus said, nodding his head in thought.

Regulus waited in silence for further explanation.

“Lily heard some rumor that I was dating a sixth year Hufflepuff, and, well, I think that’s why she was so willing to talk to me. It’s like some kind of proof that I’ve moved on.”

Before he could respond, there was yelling down on the pitch. It looked as though the team was motioning for their captain to finally join them as the fallen beater was being carried away towards the castle. This caused him to groan in aggravation.

“It’s hard being a captain, you know,” he muttered as he got back on his broomstick. “This conversation isn’t over, by the way!”

With that, he took off into the air, leaving Severus alone with his thoughts once again.

The weekend passed by rather quietly, after the ruckus of Friday evening. Magdalena and her friends were stuck in the library for the majority of it, working on their increasingly intense course loads. Of course, she still found herself distracted the new arrangement with Severus. They hadn’t even planned anything out yet.

The beginning of the week didn’t take long to drudge through, either. There were some awkward moments in the Great Hall that she had to endure, thanks to the new situation. One evening, she accidentally made eye contact with Lily as she was walking in for dinner. The girl waved happily, forcing Magdalena to wave back and attract the attention of the boys who sat next to her. She just chose to glare back at them, trying to retroactively assert her dominance. Though, she had a feeling it wasn’t working.

She also found that her and Severus were having more interactions than usual. Her eyes would wander over to him, which wasn’t entirely uncommon. The weird part was that he was actually looking back more often than not. Every time they’d unexpectedly make eye contact, he would look down to his plate immediately and try to act as though it didn’t happen.

It wasn’t until Thursday morning that she found him by accident in the courtyard, sitting alone by one of the many moss-covered fountains. He didn’t even notice her approaching him, clearly absorbed in whatever book he was reading. For a moment, she wondered if he wouldn’t want her talking to him in such a public spot. She pushed the concern to the side quickly; people in relationships talked to each other in public. Even the ones in fake relationships.

As she carefully inched closer and closer to him, she caught sight at the book cover. She gasped in shock, plopping down beside him. “Is that my copy of Pride & Prejudice?”  
Severus looked over at her in confusion, appearing surprised to see her. “Yes?”

“Where’d you get that?”

“Don’t you remember? About a week ago during potions lessons?”

Magdalena stared back at him, clearly still confused.

“I claimed that _Moste Potente Potions_ was the best book ever written, and you threw _this_ at my head,” he said, shaking the novel bitterly.

“Ha,” she remarked with a big smile. “Oh, yeah. I do remember that now.”

He scoffed, shaking his head in mock disapproval. “I figured I ought to read it.”

“Now that you’re a man in love?”

“Of course,” Severus replied, his voice low and dripping with unamused sarcasm. “I just… I thought I should see what you’re into, you know. So, we have talking points in case we have to act like we actually like each other in front of other people.”

Well, let’s pray _that_ never happens,” Magdalena shrugged, playing along. “Wait… I don’t have to read that dusty potions book, right?”

Severus closed the book carefully, placing it beside him. “No. I think the beauty of it would be lost on you, actually.”

She couldn’t argue with that. It was sweet, though, what he was doing. It was sweet in his own kind of way, which she was slowly learning as she grew closer and closer to him. He was actually quite a sentimental person, and deeply caring, too. It was just that he refused to let anyone see it, as though he was scared that it would be instantly snatched from his grasp as soon as he admitted to caring for something

“I do have… something to ask you, though,” Severus began quietly, looking down at his feet.

Magdalena found it adorable when he acted like that. It was vulnerable.

“Will you accompany me this weekend to Hogsmeade?”

She nearly gasped. Was he really willing to spend a whole day with her just to keep up the appearances of their little rouse?

Noticing her pause, Severus quickly continued. “Lily asked if we would want to go with her and Potter into town. I know it’ll probably be dreadfully awkward for you, but…”

“Of course I’ll go,” Magdalena interrupted. “Not that I exactly relish the thought of seeing that miserable prat again.”

Severus smiled at her hostility towards Potter. At least that was one thing that they definitely had in common. He was still upset with their little stunt the other night, but he knew that the double date that Lily arranged could help with the issue.

They sat in silence for a few moments, taking in the brisk fall afternoon. Magdalena usually hated silence when she was with others, always telling herself that she must be boring them, that they didn’t even want to talk to her. She certainly felt that way about Severus at the beginning of their friendship, but he really taught her how to be comfortable in those silent moments.

At first, she was absentmindedly watching the water in the fountain sway gently with the gusts of wind, admiring the patches of moss that grew on the terribly old stone. She eventually thought to look over at Severus, whose gaze was fixed at the clouds in the sky. Every now and then, the clouds that covered the sun would part, and light would shine down on him, making him squeeze his eyes shut quickly.

It caused Magdalena to giggle.

He looked over immediately, with a rather stern look, feeling he was being laughed at. “ _What_?”

“I think you’ve been spending a bit too much time in the dungeons, Sev.”

With a little disapproving tut, he turned his head back to the sky. “At least I’m not staring at moss all day.”

“Hey,” she began indignantly. “It’s not my fault it’s beautiful. Look at it. I love the way it makes the place look.”

“Old and unkempt?”

She shook her head quickly. “No, no… habituated, maybe?”

Severus stared back in confusion.

“If they wanted to clean it, it would just take a flick of a wand, you know, but they don’t. Everything at Hogwarts has a purpose, even the moss growing on this old fountain.”

“Poetic,” Severus drawled, clearly sounding unconvinced.

That didn’t worry Magdalena much. She just sighed and joined him in looking up at the sky. “I’m just gonna miss this place, is all.”

Severus opened his mouth, ready to respond, when he caught the sight of something terrible. His closest friends.

“Snape!”

The shout got the attention of Magdalena, too, her head snapping away to find the group of Slytherins with devious smiles on their face. Magdalena immediately felt nervous under their gaze. She had to admit, Severus was one of the few Slytherins who she had ever really become friends with. She hadn’t had much experience with them otherwise.

The only one in the group she truly knew was Regulus, but most of their conversations didn’t go beyond their course work or Severus. She wouldn’t really consider him a good friend or anything. Beside him, there were two boys and a girl.

She wasn’t sure exactly what they knew already about their little arrangement. They had never discussed whether or not they were going to tell their friends the truth. Magdalena feared that, if they did, it would ultimately blow up in their faces if one of them snitched. She wasn’t exactly sold on the idea of having to spend time with his friends. Though, she imagined that he didn’t want more interaction with hers, either.

But she had heard rumors about his friends. Scary things about dark magic and blood purity; all of the talk that seemed to be growing with each passing day. It was impossible for muggle-borns such as herself to not be on-edge about it most of the time.

Severus just gave a little nod, looking as though he was trying to appear rather nonchalant about seeing them. However, the way that he carefully flipped her muggle book over and tucked it closely to his side, out of sight, was not lost on Magdalena.

“Are you going to introduce us to your… friend?” The boy spoke slow and languid, adding a particular lilt to the word “friend,” knowingly.

She identified the boy who spoke as Lucius Malfoy. He came from a long lineage of wealthy and powerful pureblood wizards. He was certainly not known for his kindness or warmth, but she heard that he was good for a laugh every now and then, at least. 

Hanging off his shoulder was Narcissa Black. Magdalena only knew her tangentially, but she had always thought that she was the most beautiful girl in their class. There was something ghostly and waifish about her that she found hard to look away from. Everyone knew she adored Lucius, though, which was clearly a mutual feeling, by the way he clung to her waist with one hand. Their connection to one another looked very natural, she thought.

“My name’s Magdalena,” she spoke, before peering over at Severus, trying to discern what she should say next.

He didn’t seem to know.

“I’ve heard of you,” said one of the other boys with a smirk that troubled Magdalena. She hated when boys looked at her like that, with a particular kind of insidiousness.

She had seen this one before, plenty of times, but his name never quite stuck in her mind. He was known for getting in trouble, usually in connection with the Gryffindor boys. That rivalry clearly went well beyond the bounds of Severus.

Before the brutish looking boy could continue, Severus cleared his throat loudly, calling the attention of the group.

“Mulciber,” he began, not showing any signs of discomfort. “Did you do what I asked to?”

Magdalena was beyond grateful to see that Severus’ comment clearly took the attention off from her, though the devious grin remained. “Of course. Can’t let those pricks disrespect your girl again.”

_Oh no_. _What trouble has Severus got his friends up to now?_

He smiled back at his friend coyly. Magdalena bitterly noted how he was avoiding the disapproving gaze of “his girl.” Regulus seemed to share the sentiment, shaking his head with a little sigh.

“The back and forth can’t go on forever, you know. We’ll have to graduate at some point.”

Mulciber seemed unphased by the comment as he grinned, glancing over to Lucius. “Then we’ll _really_ be able to take care of them, huh?”

The comment made Magdalena’s heartrate quicken in what she figured was fear. Maybe the rumors about them weren’t just rumors after all. Could they really be deatheaters?

She looked to Severus, almost as a plea for help. His aloof façade was shaken by the comment, as well, and he looked back at her grimly. The little exchange appeared to be lost on Mulciber and Lucius, but Magdalena had a feeling that Narcissa noticed.

She let out a little laugh, smiling at her fellow sixth year as she untangled herself from her boyfriend and sat on the side of the fountain beside her. “It’s great news about the two of you. I always liked you, you know.”

She appreciated Narcissa’s attention more than she did of the others, but it didn’t exactly help with the sick feeling settling in her chest.

“I should get going,” she announced suddenly, practically jumping up on her feet. “It was nice to meet you all.”

As she looked back to Severus one last time, giving him a smile, Mulciber busied himself by grabbing the copy of _Pride & Prejudice_ that Severus had attempted to hide.

“What’s _this_?”

Severus looked at it with wide eyes. “It’s Magdalena’s,” he blurted out.

It hurt her feelings in a strange and terrible kind of way. Up until that point, she didn’t really know that Severus was capable of hurting her feelings like that, of _disappointing_ her.

He even looked different to her in the moment as he handed the book to her. He looked younger, almost like a child in a room full of adults, desperately trying to act like them and impress them while not being fully sure how to do that or what is expected of him.

Magdalena just grabbed the book, trying not to angrily snatch it from his hands. She gave a curt nod to the group and walked away in a hurry, clutching her textbooks to her chest.

The only thing that made her feel a bit better once she got to her room was opening the book and finding Severus’ dense scrawl of notes and ideas in the margins. Some of them even seemed to be messages directly for her.


	8. double date

Silence never seemed more miserable than it did between the two young couples sitting inside the Three Broomsticks on Saturday afternoon. Around them, their classmates were excitedly drinking and cracking jokes. Everything at their table, however, was painfully stifled.

They had already cycled through all of the typical small talk, from how the term was going to what they were planning to do after graduation to even the weather. Lily and Magdalena did most of the talking, as they were both quite good conversationalists. Not to mention, of course, that _they_ had nothing against each other. James and Severus, on the other hand, were doing their best to avoid acknowledging the other’s existence.

James was walking on thin ice, and he surely knew that. He spent quite a while pining after Lily, who was never very impressed with his arrogant attitude and brutish behavior towards certain students. He allegedly got better behaved over the past year, working hard to win Lily’s favor through a newfound form of kindness. Of course, that never totally spread to Severus, but it did at least lessen the amount of time Potter spent harassing him.

He was acting completely self-restrained, not exactly warm to either of them but definitely less hostile than usual. Severus still loathed him, but he had to admit to himself that James was much more tolerable while he was with Lily. She had a tendency to bring out the best in people. It just never was enough with Severus, he figured.

“So,” Magdalena finally spoke, and everyone at the table shifted their eyes to look at her in anticipation, eager to be released from the painstaking silence. “Lily, it’s been a while since we’ve talked, hasn’t it?”

James was quick to interrupt. “Wait, you two already knew each other?”

He looked quite surprised at the thought, Severus noted bitterly. It was clear that he wasn’t a huge fan of Magdalena, for obvious reasons. Severus had a feeling that James would have to end up at least enjoying her presence. Even if she was annoying, he couldn’t deny how charming and likeable she was.

The question got him interested too, though. In all their time together, Severus never thought to ask her about her past connection to Lily.

“We used to do frog choir together,” Lily spoke up, smiling towards Magdalena. “It was a lot of fun, why did we quit?”

She began giggling. “Because every time we had to do a number with the toads, they’d piss all over us.”

Lily, who had unfortunately just began taking a sip of her butterbeer, snorted with laughter. She covered her mouth, which now was slightly covered with the frothy beverage.

“And Professor Flitwick told us that they’d only piss on us if they found us to have a non-threatening presence.”

“Of course,” Lily responded, finally composing herself. “It was a sign of respect to be urinated on.”

As the girls laughed together about toad piss, Severus looked over to James, who was, to his surprise, already looking back at him. It was an odd moment. Never in his six years of knowing Potter had Severus ever gotten a look that… friendly? Perhaps friendly wasn’t the right word. It was… lacking aggression. Almost as though he regarded him as something of an equal, even if only for a moment.

Severus stood up suddenly, unsettled by James’ gaze. The girls looked at him in confusion. “I’m going to get some fresh air.”

Although he was trying his best to look nonchalant and at ease, the situation had been wearing on him. He hated having to deal with James just to get back on Lily’s good side. He also hated knowing that this was all a part of Lily’s plan to get them to finally settle score on their rivalry. And, finally, he hated having to drag Magdalena into it.

As he shuffled out of the bar, he thought about her. She was, as always, being far too kind to him. Though, after what happened in the courtyard earlier that week, she seemed distant. They hadn’t even had a chance to speak about it yet, and while he didn’t relish the idea of having that discussion, he didn’t want it to remain untouched for too long. He just had to find a way to apologize.

Magdalena hadn’t been outright angry at him, as it clearly took a lot to stir that out of her. She was, however, passive aggressive, which was not one of her better traits. Though, Severus didn’t think he necessarily had the right to complain. She had spent the last few days ignoring him (and his friends, of course), and she even cancelled their potions lesson through a very curt note sent to his room. Then, their Divination class on Friday consisted of her finding at least four different ways of predicting a miserable future for Severus.

The worst of it was that very morning when the two had met up to prepare for the day in Hogsmeade. She seemed terribly annoyed about the outing, but she still agreed to go through with it, even after Severus reminded her that she could back out if she wanted. Then, he made the mistake of asking her if he could have that muggle book back to finish reading it. He thought it was nice, bringing up something she liked, something they could talk about together.

Instead of seeming touched by the idea, she just let out a soft huff of breath and muttered, “ _No_.”

She didn’t let that attitude show once Lily and James found them, however, and she had been putting on a pleasant act all day. She just chattered on with Lily and tried to find ways to break any awkward silences. Not to mention, Severus noted, she even committed herself to pretending to find him charming in front of the Gryffindor couple.

He leaned against the stone siding of the Three Broomsticks, watching his breath in the chilly air. He even went so far as to rest his eyes for a moment, needing a bit of solitude. He was terrible at dealing with people all day; not getting enough time by himself made him even more acerbic than usual. It was a busy day in Hogsmeade, however, so he certainly didn’t feel entirely alone, and he didn’t want to let his guard down for too long.

Just as he began to consider entering the bar again to return to the table, the door opened, and a familiar face walked out. It was the one out of the group of three that he least wanted to be around, of course.

  
“Snape,” James spoke, joining him in his spot by the wall.

Severus didn’t like to be this close to him. Deep down, he knew that James had to play nice today to appease Lily, but his past experience taught him to always be on the defensive.

“Potter.”

Unexpectedly, he grinned a little. “You and I having a drink together in Hogsmeade. Who would’ve thought?”

He didn’t respond, but he didn’t move away, either. The last thing he wanted was to look as though he was running away.

“You owe me, by the way.”

“Oh really?” Severus sneered immediately, finally speaking up.

James looked over to him indignantly. “Yes, you do. I was generous enough to convince Sirius not to tell her about your guys’ little stunt in transfiguration.”

_Oh._

Severus had so much else to think about, the incident had nearly escaped his mind. After watching Black intimidate Magdalena, he knew he had to retaliate somehow. Even if she wasn’t his real girlfriend, he _did_ care about her enough to send him a little message. He hated remembering how fearful she looked that night. It was just too easy to ask Mulciber, who had the class with him, to switch out his quill with an enchanted one on the day of a big exam.

“A bit _juvenile_ , by the way,” James muttered.

“Well, I’m sure Black was going to write the wrong answers even if he had his regular quill, anyways.”

James pushed himself off the wall, anger rising. “He actually studied for that exam, you know. He’s not some shit-for-brains like you make him out to be.”

“Really? Because I would think that cornering a girl alone in a dark corridor would be considered shit-for-brains behavior.”

He sighed, looking down to his feet like a child who just got caught stealing a cookie. The anger in his voice seemed to dissipate. “That was a mistake, I know.”

Severus looked over to him in shock. _Did James Potter just admit to making a mistake_? Right in front of him, no less? This would be a day to mark in the history books.

“Trust me,” James continued, rolling his eyes. “That long lecture we got from Remus the next morning was far worse than your silly enchanted quill.”

“If you have a problem with me, Potter, then deal with me directly. Don’t ever do something like that again.”

He imagined that James wasn’t responding well to being told what to do by _Snivellus_. He probably wanted to pull his wand out that instant and shoot him some nasty hex. No such threat came, however. James just crossed his arms tightly around his chest, and looked around, watching an excited gaggle of third years exist Honeydukes with big bags full of sweets.

“We would have never hurt her.”

There was a long silence, and Severus finally decided on just reentering the bar. He was at the point of not caring if it looked like a sign of submission to walk away. James spoke before he had the chance to reach the door, however.

“Is it true that she’s a muggleborn?”

The statement stopped him dead in his tracks, and he quickly met James’ eyes.

“Excuse me?”

“Magdalena. Remus said he’d heard it from someone.”

The issue of her magical blood (or lack thereof) always seemed to come up, and he knew why. He knew that James was getting ready to remind him of what had happened with Lily. He was probably even going to bring up the continued rise of dark wizards, along with the disappearances of muggleborns and “blood traitors.” All of the terrible things that Severus worked so hard to avoid thinking about, letting alone discussing with someone who already hated him.

Instead, James just chuckled. “You have a habit for finding misery in everything, huh?”

The words caused anger to stir inside of him, but Severus knew that it was true. He had no idea what he would have said, anyways.

“I can tell you really like her.”

Severus stood staring back at him, stunned.

“She’s nice. Don’t do to her what you did to Lily. You might be running out of second chances, you know.”

It was a threat, that was for sure. Yet, a part of Severus felt as though he was receiving genuine advice, which was never a feeling that he had experienced regarding James. Maybe he really was changing, not just putting on a little act for Lily.

“Never thought I’d see a girl look at you the way she does.”

“Fuck off,” Severus muttered. It was a phrase he had delivered James before, but it came out different this time, lighter. He even allowed the smallest hint of a grin to form on his face, before shaking his head quickly and returning to the bar, mind in a flurry.

“He was friends with all of the stray cats in Cokeworth,” Lily continued, pulling more and more giggles from Magdalena. “I mean, it didn’t matter what they looked like or how mean they were to him at first. He just loved them all.”

“That’s… so adorable.”

Lily nodded, a wide smile on her face. “He likes to act all cold around people, but you should have seen him with those cats. He named them after great witches and wizards of the past.”

Magdalena squealed with joy. “Seriously?!”

Their conversation was interrupted by the return of Severus, with James following closely behind him. He took his seat by Magdalena, his body stiff and a grim look on his face. She found it odd, but figured it wasn’t too far off from how he usually behaved.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh, um,” Lily shook her head with a smile. “You wouldn’t want to know.”

He furrowed his brow, and James seemed to share the sentiment. “Secrets are no good, ladies.”

Severus shifted his gaze to Magdalena, whose cheeks were blushed pink as she tried to hide a little smile. She was too busy imagining him surrounded by a gaggle of stray cats, as he carefully tried to win their favor. In that moment, the grudge she was holding against him slowly slipped away.

She just chose to smile back at him, the first bit of genuine warmth she’d shown him all day, and she had a feeling that he noticed. “I’ll tell you about it later,” she whispered.

Across the table, James and Lily were sharing a moment together as well. Magdalena glanced over to them, watching their whisperings. It looked like he was teasing her a little, lightly pushing her shoulder. She just giggled sweetly, mumbling something back to him, but the sound of it got lost in the noise of the other patrons of the bar. He leaned in for a gentle kiss, and Magdalena felt a weird pang in her heart.

She just shifted her eyesight down to the table and tried to forget the display of affection across from her. For the second time, she began to wonder if this arrangement with Severus was a huge mistake. After all, she was running out of time at Hogwarts, and she had never had a real relationship before. What if she would never find someone to real-date because she was too busy fake-dating him?

There had been a few boys in the past who expressed interest, but they just weren’t quite right for her. Of course, there was also her “friend” Wren who would flirt with her while knowing full well that she didn’t enjoy it. Maybe there just weren’t any suitable boys for her at Hogwarts, anyways. 

She looked over to her fake boyfriend, and he looked down immediately as their eyes met. If she was being honest, she found him terribly cute when they first met, and maybe she had a tiny crush on him. But her task from the start was to help him get with a girl that she thought he was madly in love with, which made it easier for her to let go of any of those feelings.

Now, however, that the objective had shifted and it was revealed that Severus no longer wanted Lily romantically, Magdalena found her mind wandering at times. She let herself imagine that maybe, just maybe, Severus didn’t find her _completely_ intolerable.

They had actually gotten rather close in the previous months, and she found herself thinking about him when he wasn’t around. She would be with her friends, and they’d be laughing about something funny, and she would want to immediately tell him about it. Some days she would be holed up in her little hidden spot, thinking about the night that Severus had joined her there, the way his knees gently knocked into hers as they sat together.

She found it all terribly embarrassing, and that made her wonder if she had some issues with vulnerability, too. All this time she had been dogging on Severus for being unable to show Lily how he felt, but she was beginning to understand. She had these awful scenarios spun in her head where she would cross a line with him and he would tell her off, rejecting her completely.

If she was going to even attempt to gauge how he felt about her, she knew she had to be strategic with it. With Lily and James still lost in their own little world, Magdalena formed an idea. It would be something that would allow her to explore her feelings towards Severus while still having a back-up plan if things went awry.

His hands were just sitting there on the table. It would be a shame, Magdalena thought, to let the opportunity pass her by. Slowly, she removed her hand from her own lap and placed it on top of one of Severus’. At first, he pulled back, like an involuntary reaction to the unexpected touch.

He looked to her, eyes widening ever so slightly. As though he had no idea what was happening. Magdalena didn’t want to force him into anything he didn’t want, so she just left her hand there, now unoccupied, while looking back to him with a gentle smile. On the inside, however, she was terrified. Had she crossed a line just by the simple touch of their hands? Was he really _that_ disgusted by her?

It took him a moment, but he finally moved his hand back, nestling it underneath hers once more. She noted that his skin was cold but soft, save for a few little cuts on his fingers that she imagined he got from his work in potions-making. He refused to meet her eyes now, just looking down at the table. He wasn’t even looking at their hands.

Magdalena needed an explanation for his reaction. Was he uncomfortable because he didn’t like her, or was he uncomfortable because he _did_ like her? Did he want her to pull her hand away, let him off the hook?

The latter of those questions seemed to be answered as he shifted his hand (albeit, awkwardly), allowing their fingers to intertwine. Magdalena hoped he couldn’t feel her racing pulse in her thumb. Suddenly, she couldn’t bear to look at him either, and she was forced to stare down at the table just like him.

Then, he did something that she would have never seen coming from him. He began to slowly move his thumb back and forth over her hand. It was soothing and sweet, and she realized that it was the most intimate moment that they had ever shared, even as they sat surrounded by a bar full of people. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think? 🥺 I love writing soft sev. that is all.


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